Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to reorganize the State Department. The restructuring entails cutting 700 jobs and closing 132 offices.
The Associated Press reports that Rubio sent an email to staff, saying, “We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources.”
Why downsize the department?
Rubio went on to state the current State Department had become “more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests.”
It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal government and cut spending. The restructuring includes reassigning the duties of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency. USAID oversaw foreign assistance programs and was the subject of some of the Trump administration’s early efforts at government downsizing.
What positions and offices are being cut?
The Wall Street Journal reports that the State Department is keeping the bureaus that deal with human rights and refugees but is repositioning them under a new office that will coordinate foreign aid and humanitarian issues.
The plan calls for consolidating 734 bureaus into 602, and moving 137 other offices to different locations. The AP reports that offices on African affairs, migration issues and democracy efforts survived the purge. However, the State Department’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs are being cut, as is the Office of Global Women’s Issues.
Mixed reactions
While the secretary of state touts the plan as meeting the challenges of the 21st century and putting America first, Daryl Grisgraber, from the humanitarian organization Oxfam America, told The Associated Press that it creates uncertainty and will “only make the world a more unstable, unequal place for us all.”
Some agree with the changes, with Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying it’s a vision to remake the State Department for this century, as well as the fights today and those that lie ahead.
