Marco Rubio Rolls Out Massive State Department Cuts, Bureau Closures | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled an enormous overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to cut back workers within the U.S. by 15% whereas closing and consolidating greater than 100 bureaus worldwide as a part of the Trump administration’s “America First” mandate.

The reorganization plan, introduced by Rubio on social media and detailed in paperwork obtained by The Associated Press, is the newest effort by the White House to reimagine U.S. overseas coverage and cut back the dimensions of the federal authorities. The restructuring was pushed partially by the necessity to discover a new dwelling for the remaining features of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an company that Trump administration officers and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have dismantled.

“We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources,” Rubio mentioned in a department-wide electronic mail obtained by AP. He mentioned the reorganization aimed to “meet the immense challenges of the 21st Century and put America First.”

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce echoed that sentiment, saying the “sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats” however wouldn’t consequence within the quick dismissal of personnel.

“It’s not something where people are being fired today,” Bruce informed reporters Tuesday. “They’re not going to be walking out of the building. It’s not that kind of a dynamic. It is a roadmap. It’s a plan.”

It consists of consolidating 734 bureaus and workplaces right down to 602, in addition to transitioning 137 workplaces to a different location throughout the division to “increase efficiency,” based on a truth sheet obtained by AP.

There can be a “reimagined” workplace targeted on overseas and humanitarian affairs to coordinate the help applications abroad that stay on the State Department.

Although the plan will implement main modifications within the division’s forms and personnel, it’s far much less drastic than an alleged reorganization plan that was circulated by some officers over the weekend. Numerous senior State Department officers, together with Rubio himself, denied that the plan was actual.

Work that had been believed focused in that alleged leaked doc survived — a minimum of as bureau names on a chart — within the plan that Rubio launched Tuesday. That consists of workplaces for Africa affairs, migration and refugee points, and democracy efforts.

It was not instantly clear whether or not U.S. embassies had been included within the installations slated for closing. The earlier reviews of wholesale closings of embassies, particularly in Africa, had triggered warnings about shrinking the U.S. diplomatic capability and affect overseas.

Some of the bureaus which are certainly anticipated to be reduce within the new plan embody the Office of Global Women’s Issues and the State Department’s variety and inclusion efforts, which have been eradicated government-wide beneath Trump.

An workplace charged with surging experience to struggle zones and different erupting crises can be eradicated, whereas different bureaus targeted on human rights and justice can be scaled again or folded into different sections of the division.

Daryl Grisgraber, a coverage lead with humanitarian group Oxfam America, mentioned this improvement solely creates extra “uncertainty” in regards to the United States’ means to contribute to humanitarian conflicts and can “only make the world a more unstable, unequal place for us all.”

It is unclear if the reorganization can be applied by an government order or different means.

The plans got here per week after the AP realized that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget proposed gutting the State Department’s finances by nearly 50% and eliminating funding for the United Nations and NATO headquarters.

While the finances proposal was nonetheless in a extremely preliminary part and never anticipated to cross muster with Congress, the reorganization plan received an preliminary nod of approval from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

“Change is not easy, but President Trump and Secretary Rubio have proposed a vision to remake the State Department for this century and the fights that we face today, as well as those that lie ahead of us,” Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, mentioned in a press release.

Democrats, in the meantime, blasted the trouble because the Trump administration’s newest try and intestine “vital components of American influence” on the world stage.

“On its face, this new reorganization plan raises grave concerns that the United States will no longer have either the capacity or capability to exert U.S. global leadership, achieve critical national security objectives, stand up to our adversaries, save lives, and promote democratic values,” Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz mentioned.

Some lawmakers mentioned the transfer is a departure from the work Rubio supported as a senator.

“The vital work left on Secretary Rubio’s cutting-room floor represents significant pillars of our foreign policy long supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, including former Senator Rubio — not ‘radical ideologies’ as he now claims,” mentioned New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the highest Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The proposed modifications on the State Department come because the Trump administration has been slashing jobs and funding throughout businesses, from the Education Department to Health and Human Services.

On overseas coverage, past the destruction of USAID, the administration additionally has moved to defund so-called different “soft power” establishments like media shops delivering goal information, usually to authoritarian nations, together with the Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia and Radio/TV Marti, which broadcasts to Cuba.

Amiri reported from the United Nations and Lee from London.