State Dept overhaul to cut 3,400 jobs, recast focus on US values

The State Department is planning a sweeping reorganization of its global operations, eliminating thousands of posts, downgrading the role of human rights and democracy promotion, and bolstering its ability to advocate American and Western values on the world stage, according to a leaked copy of the department’s formal notification to Congress. The move portends something of a cultural revolution within the United States' oldest federal department. It is expected to impact some 300 bureaus and offices, and shrink the department’s domestic civil and foreign service workforce by 3,448 personnel, including 1,575 staffers who have already expressed an interest in taking a buyout. The remaining 1,873 will be laid off through a “reduction in force” initiative. The department employs more than 14,000 domestic foreign and civil service workers. Globally, it employs 13,000 foreign service officers and around 11,000 civil service officers. “[The] proliferation of bureaus and offices with unclear, overlapping, or duplicative mandates has hobbled the Department’s ability to rapidly respond to emerging threats and crises,” Paul Guaglianone, the State Department’s senior official in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, wrote in the notification. The proposal seeks to eliminate or merge many of the department’s functional or thematic roles — such as the promotion of human rights, protection of refugees and migrants, and the pursuit of war criminals — and to place its regional offices, which have traditionally prioritized diplomacy, “at the center of U.S. foreign policy.” “To the maximum extent possible, existing regional bureau offices that handle cross-cutting issues will take over management of functional policies from other bureaus and offices in the Department,” Guaglianone wrote. “Further, in their new or expanded assistance offices, regional bureaus will take over policy management of almost all non-security foreign assistance.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio “expects this exercise will result in a nimbler and more proactive Department that is better able to advance the Administration's foreign policy priorities,” Guaglianone added. Democratic congressional leaders, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Gregory Weeks of New York, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sharply criticized the plan. “We welcome reforms where needed, but they must be done with a scalpel, not a chainsaw,” they said in a joint statement. “This proposal hands over Afghan allies who fought side-by-side with our military to the Taliban. It guts programs meant to protect brave democracy defenders living in fear. It haphazardly moves what is left of our once prominent foreign assistance programs to [State] Department entities with no experience dealing with such programs and accounts.” “Taken together,” they added, “these moves significantly undercut America’s role in the world and open the door for adversaries to threaten our safety and prosperity. And we cannot ignore that the gutting of foreign assistance earlier this year occurred without Congress, with utter disregard and in violation of federal law and the constitution.” The proposal calls for the elimination of numerous senior posts, including a number of special envoys and the undersecretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights. President Donald Trump would appoint a new undersecretary of state for foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs, subject to Senate approval, who would also serve as special coordinator for international disaster assistance. Day-to-day decisions on foreign assistance will be overseen by the department’s regional bureaus, rendering many of the functions of offices under the purview of the undersecretary for civilian, security, human rights and democracy “redundant,” according to the notification. “These offices, which have proven themselves prone to ideological capture and radicalism, will be eliminated.” Development experts who have seen the notification say they were relieved to see that the administration plans to appoint a senior official to oversee foreign assistance and humanitarian aid, but they are concerned that too much power rests in the hands of the regional bureaus. “Conceptually, it’s good that there is a senior-level official who is responsible for foreign assistance, and, therefore, one should get better coherence,” said George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “The problem is there is not much foreign assistance under it, not much development assistance,” he added, noting that it primarily oversees humanitarian, refugee, and migration issues. “The bulk of development assistance, the core of foreign assistance, is farmed out to the regional bureaus,” he told Devex. The problem with that, he said, is that the regional bureaus tend to place a higher priority on diplomatic, rather than development, outcomes, resulting in “foreign aid programs dominated by a short-term foreign policy perspective.” Tod Preston, the executive director of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, issued a statement saying the latest plan was an improvement on a previous iteration, citing the creation of a Senate-approved head of foreign assistance. He also praised the inclusion of an Office of Global Food Security, naming a Senate-confirmed Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, and preserving “USAID’s world-class Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs).” But he said improvements are still needed. For instance, “issues concerning capacity also remain a key concern. For any reorganization to succeed, it must have staff, systems, and other tools needed to meet its objectives,” he said. Apart from the bureaucratic challenges, the reorganization effort has been deeply infused by the Trump administration's ideological proclivities. The initiative calls for the establishment of a new Office of Natural Rights, which “will ground the Department’s values-based diplomacy in traditional western conceptions of core freedoms and advance the Department’s affirmative visions of civil liberties.” The 136-page notification — which was marked sensitive but not classified — said the office would confront “free speech backsliding in Europe and other developed nations.” The provision echoes claims by Vice President JD Vance, who chastised foreign leaders at the Munich Security Conference for limiting the speech of conservative groups, and other Republican politicians, who have claimed that Democratic efforts to crack down on extremist posts on social media are aimed at stifling conservative views. Other departments heading towards the chopping block: The Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and the Office of Global Criminal Justice will be eliminated, and the remaining functions absorbed into other departments. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor would undergo a substantial reorganization, with a new assistant secretary overseeing the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the Office of the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and the Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism — though the religious freedom and antisemitism offices would have a direct reporting channel to the secretary of state. The majority of the regional offices within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor would be eliminated, with its remaining staff focused on “advancing the administration’s affirmative vision of American and Western values.” In addition to the new Office of Natural Rights, the bureau will host an Office of Free Markets and Free Labor to “ensure that American works compete in a fair and open global labor playing field.” The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration would be transformed from an agency dedicated to promoting legal immigration and ensuring the protection of refugees and migrants to "supporting the Administration's efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status.” And it will no longer control its own budget. An Office of Remigration will work closely with the Department of Homeland Security on the removal and repatriation of foreign nationals and “facilitate the voluntary return of migrants.” An Office of International Migration and Repatriation will manage the bureau’s migration tracking system and the Office of Refugee Processing, which will replace the current Office of Refugee Admissions. Other bureau functions will be eliminated. “It’s shifting from being a refugee bureau to a migration bureau with a policy that is focused mostly on returns and deportations and preventing migrants into the United States,” said Elizabeth Campbell, a former senior official in the Bureau of Population Refugees, and Migration who now serves as head of the ODI think tank’s Washington, D.C. office. Big changes are coming in the area of global health. The Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, which is charged with preventing and responding to the spread of infectious diseases, will come under the authority of an undersecretary for economic growth, energy, and environment. The bureau’s role will focus on managing “complex commercial medical supply chains to support life-saving aid programs.” The Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which has traditionally managed U.S. policy with the United Nations, the World Bank, and other multilateral institutions, will shift to a more field-oriented operation and shed four senior posts. A new Office of Economic and Civil Affairs will manage the bureau’s activities in several countries, including New York, Paris, and Nairobi. Other new offices will oversee peacekeeping, counterterrorism, public outreach, and U.N. reform and strategic planning.