Photo: Nathan Howard / Reuters
The administration of President Donald Trump is launching a large-scale reorganisation of the US State Department, which includes the closure of more than a hundred offices, staff cuts and radical changes in approaches to foreign policy focused solely on US national interests. This was announced on Tuesday by the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Reuters reports.
“This approach encompasses the entire State Department, from the headquarters to the embassies. We’re eliminating duplicative offices, stopping ineffective programmes, and focusing on the real national interests of the United States,” Rubio said.
The reform envisages closing 132 of the 734 State Department offices and reducing staff by 15%. The department has already informed Congress, although the exact number of employees to be laid off is not yet known. According to a document posted by Rubio on the social network X (formerly Twitter), approximately 700 positions are to be eliminated.
The changes will even affect the basic functions of diplomacy. For example, the functions of the Office of Human Rights, Democracy and Security are being transferred to the newly created Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Foreign Assistance. Rubio called the State Department “a bloated and inefficient apparatus that is not up to the new conditions of global competition”.
This is the second stage of the reforms: in February, Trump initiated a change in the approach to the work of the US diplomatic corps so that they “follow the president’s foreign policy doctrine”. According to sources, the next step may be to reduce the number of foreign missions and consulates.
Under attack is the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to Rubio. Trump has accused the agency of supporting the Democrat-backed “fake news” and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. The organisation’s budget (about $40 billion annually) was used, among other things, to fund democratic initiatives, media and human rights organisations abroad. Now, its functions are being reduced to a minimum – or the agency will be completely eliminated.
Despite the radical nature of the plan, Rubio assures that the departments dealing with human rights and refugees will remain in place. However, experts are already calling the reform a blow to the US global role as a defender of democratic values.
“This is not just an administrative purge – it’s a strategic reversal. The United States will no longer be the guarantor of human rights in the world,” said a former senior State Department official on condition of anonymity.
