Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sweeping changes to the U.S. State Department, which will reduce staff by 15% and close or consolidate more than 100 bureaus worldwide. The plans are a part of the Trump Administration’s “America First” mandate.
According to The Associated Press, the reorganization is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine U.S. foreign policy and reduce the size of the federal government. The changes were also driven by the need to find a department for what’s left of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was gutted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources,” Rubio said in a department-wide email obtained by AP.
Who and What Will Be Impacted By State Department Changes?
According to State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, the changes will not result in the immediate dismissal of personnel or mass firings, unlike what the country has seen across other federal agencies since President Donald Trump took office.
“It’s not something where people are being fired today,” Bruce told reporters Tuesday. “They’re not going to be walking out of the building. It’s not that kind of a dynamic. It is a roadmap. It’s a plan.”
The plan so far includes consolidating the 734 bureaus down to 602 and relocating 137 offices within the department to “increase efficiency,” according to The Associated Press.
One significant change is that the office tasked with surging expertise to war zones and other erupting crises will be eliminated. Rubio also plans to reduce or transition bureaus that focus on human rights and justice into a different department.
These plans follow the White House’s Office of Management and Budget’s proposal to reduce the State Department’s budget by nearly 50% and eliminate funding for the United Nations and NATO headquarters.
Although the changes haven’t been implemented, experts say they will fundamentally alter how the United States engages with the world.
“The Trump administration’s latest reorganization is not just a reshuffle,” experts with the policy journal Just Security said. “It’s a realignment of diplomatic priorities, one that seems set to constrain U.S. soft power, reduce institutional capacity on human rights, and centralize messaging under fewer leadership nodes.”
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