The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has proposed a sweeping reorganisation of the US state department as part of what he called an effort to reform it amid criticism from the Trump White House over the execution of US diplomacy. If approved, the reorganisation would cut more than 700 positions and eliminate 132 of 734 offices, according to state department officials. But those officials also stressed that the plan, which was suddenly announced on Tuesday, remained a proposal and would not lead to immediate layoffs or cuts.
Other reports on Tuesday leaked through the conservative news outlet the Free Press said that Rubio was planning to request an across-the-board 15% reduction in personnel. That would mark the largest cut in the diplomatic corps in decades, although it is less drastic than draft proposals that had been circulated and a report from the White House’s office of management and budget that suggested a 50% cut in the department’s budget. “The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests,” Rubio said in a statement. “That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department in to the 21st Century.”
The reorganisation may be followed by other announcements on staffing and cuts, a department official said, that would close a number of overseas missions, reduce staff and minimise offices dedicated to promoting liberal values in a stated goal to subsume them into regional bureaus. “Our organisational chart has become bloated … with the priorities of past administrations,” said a senior state department official. “This is an attempt to go back to the traditional roots of the state department … to the primacy of the regional bureaus and of our foreign missions. “The state department will lose relevance if it cannot turn things around in an expeditious manner,” the official said.
In his remarks, Rubio wrote that he was targeting departments that were involved in the global promotion of democracy and human rights, writing that the expansive “domain … provided a fertile environment for activists to redefine ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy’ and to pursue their projects at the taxpayer expense. “The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against ‘anti-woke’ leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes,” Rubio wrote. “The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to international organizations and NGOs that facilitated mass migration around the world, including the invasion on our southern border.”
Yet a number of state department staffers said the cuts were less severe than expected and that key information had not yet been released on how many jobs may be cut. “There is no information on [personnel] cuts”, which is “what most people are waiting for”, said one state department employee.
One draft executive order shared with the Guardian and previously reported on by the New York Times would have eliminated almost all of its Africa operations and shut down embassies and consulates across the continent.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/marco-rubio-state-department-overhaul
Comment: This is the way to do it. Take the time to examine the organization and formulate a plan to remake it into an organization that better serves national objectives as defined by the current administration… and no embarrassing scandal. It’s almost boring. And that’s the way government should be. I don’t know if Trump truly knew what he was doing when he nominated Rubio as SecState or he just lucked out. I hope Rubio lasts the full term.
TTG
Only 700 positions to be cut? That’s a start of a beginning I guess. As Pat Lang pointed out long ago our communications technology would allow us to run all that front the US with no need for most of the foreign staff assignments.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation — long seen as a bipartisan darling — may be the next U.S. foreign aid agency to fall under President Donald Trump’s ax. The agency, created under former President George W. Bush and known for rigorous grant standards and a scorecard-based eligibility system, has disbursed nearly $17 billion to 47 countries over the past two decades. With an annual budget around $900 million, it’s been a quiet workhorse — one that also doubled as a tool to counter China’s influence.
Last week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation — a U.S. aid agency focused on economic development — was informed by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, that it must rapidly wind down all operations, with significant staffing reductions. The fallout could be more than just abandoned infrastructure projects, it could lead to a major erosion of trust in the United States, experts told Devex.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who chairs the agency’s board — might not have been informed about DOGE’s plans in advance.
Now there are efforts inside the State Department to save MCC. But with many of the agency’s partner governments hearing about the news not through the government, but through the media, trust in MCC — and in the U.S. government — seems to already be splintering.
“To the extent you have these half-finished infrastructure projects, they’ll be monuments to U.S. inconsistency and U.S. neglect,” says John Simon, who helped build MCC in the early days. “A giant advertisement in the middle of a country about how the United States can’t be trusted.”
I have less expectations from Rubio. He was a mediocre Senator and now he has done a big shapeshifting. As a longtime contractor specializing in rebuilding, I know the demo phase is the easy one. As a former computer programmer, I know making a flow chart is the easy part too. I also expect that the Peter Principle to kick in. Right now the best thing going for Rubio is Hegseth, but we will see what happens when the knives come out.
There was no make-up studio installed in the Pentagon. Fake news. Hegseth was forced to deal with this attack piece personally. But if wasting his time was the original goal of the fake news hit piece, mission accomplished.
Deap,
Embellished maybe, but not fake news. This is from a DoD official. He got his makeup chair, mirror and light.
Hegseth also claimed his spilling of classified info on Signal was fake news. Dry drunks are ofthen notorious liars.
A “make-up light” simply provides shadow-free lighting when making videos. Most people use them – a circular lighting affair of no import. Quite often used in simple photography like passport photos,or (gasp) when applying “make-up”.
Like the classic lighted bulb mirrors in backstage dressing rooms. Heaven forbid any one in the public eye suffers again the Nixon five-o’lock shadow, as their lasting signature. Thank you for the clarification of the original claim.
I can cut him some slack – he was a creature of network news so he knows the preparation routine. Form and substance can work together for a pleasing whole.