The Trump administration has put forward a sweeping plan to significantly restructure the U.S. State Department, targeting the elimination of over 100 offices, including those dedicated to war crimes and human rights advocacy.
This proposal is a strategic move to align the agency with President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.
According to an internal memo viewed by Reuters, the plan aims to reduce the number of bureaus and offices within the State Department from 734 to 602, effectively cutting 132 positions.
Undersecretaries have been instructed to develop strategies to cut staff by 15%, though it remains unclear how many employees will face layoffs due to this revamp.
A report shared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, highlighting findings from the online publication Free Press, indicated that an additional 700 positions could be eliminated as a result of closing specific offices.
This bold initiative arises amidst a larger campaign by President Trump, alongside his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, to streamline the federal government, claiming that taxpayer funds are being misallocated.
Consequently, this has led to the dismissal of thousands of government workers, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to reducing what it perceives as a bloated bureaucracy.
In a statement, Rubio asserted, ‘In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition.’
Supporters of the plan, which includes the Secretary of State, argue that the existing structure has hindered rapid and efficient decision-making.
The proposed overhaul aims to empower regional bureaus, enhance operational functionality, and eliminate offices and programs that do not align with the core national interests of the United States.
Additionally, Trump issued an executive order in February tasking Rubio with revamping the U.S. Foreign Service and restructuring State Department operations to ensure alignment with his administration’s objectives.
While the proposed changes appear less severe than what many within the State Department had anticipated, there are still significant concerns.
A memo that recently circulated among employees suggested eliminating nearly all functions of the Department’s African affairs bureau—a point that raised alarms throughout the department.
Among the most notable eliminations is the Undersecretary of Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, a division that Rubio claims diverts attention from essential U.S. priorities.
In a Substack article, he described this division as ‘providing a fertile environment for activists’ to redefine concepts of ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy,’ often at odds with the goals of the Secretary, the President, and the American populace.
Rubio further criticized officials involved in democracy and human rights initiatives, suggesting they have pursued personal agendas against what he called ‘anti-woke’ leaders in nations like Poland, Hungary, and Brazil.
Furthermore, he claimed that the migration bureau has contributed to large-scale migrations.
For years, several programs under the U.S. Agency for International Development have concentrated on supporting independent media and civil society in increasingly authoritarian environments, though it remains unclear if this focus will persist post-reorganization.
While some offices from the abolished branch will be merged into other divisions of the department, a crucial entity tasked with monitoring war crimes and atrocities globally—the Office of Global Criminal Justice—has notably vanished from the new organizational framework.
Spokesperson Tammy Bruce communicated with reporters that the proposal is meant to serve as a roadmap, indicating that alterations could still be made.
Bruce asserted that the dissolution of a specific bureau does not necessarily imply a complete cessation of work relating to that issue, though she declined to elaborate on how these concerns would continue to be prioritized within the department.
Recently, Rubio also disbanded a State Department office designed to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of suppressing conservative viewpoints.
In March, U.S. officials mentioned that there were also plans to shut down nearly a dozen consulates.
As part of this ongoing restructuring effort, officials have been assured that the recent changes focus solely on the department’s operations within Washington, D.C.
A senior State Department official clarified, ‘This is a purely domestic plan. This does not have anything to do with any foreign missions. That’s not to say that there won’t be subsequent decisions on foreign missions.’
Undersecretary-level officials now have 30 days to evaluate the number of positions that will be affected by the proposed reorganization.
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