The State Department in the United States is firing 1,300 career diplomats and civil servants in line with a dramatic reorganisation plan initiated by the Donald Trump administration earlier this year. According to AP, quoting a senior State Department official, the department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States.
Amid the praise by President Donald Trump’s administration as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been heavily criticised by the current and the former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
According to CNN quoting the notice, the employees will receive the layoff notices via email. The firings are happening as the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is out of Washington, DC, on a flight back from an overseas trip to Malaysia.
“Nearly 3,000 members of the workforce will depart as part of the reorganization,” the notice said. That number includes people who are being fired as well as those leaving voluntarily.
“In connection with the Departmental reorganization first announced by the Secretary of State on April 22, 2025, the Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice said as quoted by CNN.
“Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities.”
The Trump-led administration has defended the reorganization and argued that it was necessary to make the “bloated” agency more effective and aligned with the president’s priorities.
