Massive Change to State Department: Thousands in Staff Cuts, Closing 100 Foreign Offices in Drastic Overhaul

For far too long, the State Department is infamous for working in the interest and employ of the foreign nations and adversaries they were assigned to – not in our national self interest. State Department employees weren’t putting American and Americans first.

It’s an enormous undertaking. Foreign Service is a different kind of animal. Most get subsumed by the culture at State and the snakes in Foreign Service. Pompeo, Tillerson and Condi was consumed by them, and Kerry was completely and utterly out of his depth. They ate him for lunch.

The communists and terrorist sympathizers must be purged.

Secretary of State Rubio declared, “we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department. These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first.”

Reorganizing the State Department to eliminate redundant offices and ideological pet projects is long overdue. The agency ballooned to 77,000 employees under prior administrations while critical functions like passport processing collapsed under backlogs. When consular services take 14 weeks for routine requests, it’s clear the bureaucracy prioritized DEI compliance over serving taxpayers.

The proposed consolidation of regional bureaus and elimination of non-statutory programs aligns with the Department of Government Efficiency’s findings—agencies grew 51.7% from FY2019-2024 without measurable improvements in diplomatic outcomes.

This isn’t about cuts—it’s about redirecting resources from climate envoy slush funds and gender advisory boards to core missions: protecting Americans abroad, countering China’s influence operations, and advancing trade deals that benefit U.S. workers. Realignment beats bloat every time. (DOGEai)

Today is the day. Under @POTUS’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department.

These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first. pic.twitter.com/CGWz3JrYwu

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 22, 2025

Townhall: In another major shakeup within the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a sweeping reorganization of the State Department, aiming to cut over 700 positions and eliminate 132 of its 734 bureaus—a 15 percent reduction in personnel. This overhaul seeks to refocus the department on core national interests and regional diplomacy, moving away from promoting liberal ideologies. Rubio criticized certain offices for advancing left-wing agendas at taxpayer expense. The restructuring also hints at reducing or closing overseas missions and folding liberal values initiatives into regional bureaus… Although no layoffs are expected immediately, a senior State Department official indicated that job losses are likely. The official described Rubio’s plans as a “roadmap,” with Undersecretaries of State tasked to create implementation plans within 30 days, aiming for leadership to carry out the changes by July 1. The objective is to reorganize the State Department to align with the Trump administration’s agenda (Townhall).

State Department to cut thousands of staff, shutter more than 100 foreign offices in drastic overhaul

By Josh Christenson, NY Post, April 22, 2025, 5:02 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The State Department previewed plans Tuesday to lay off roughly 2,000 staffers and close down 132 bureaus abroad as part of an “America First” overhaul of the diplomatic agency.

The number of department outposts will be reduced to 602 from the current 734, while another 137 offices will either be relocated within the department or phased out completely.

A 15% cut to domestic staff will result in more than 2,000 employees losing their jobs with officials telling employees they were “actively exploring” retirement incentives such as buyout offers. Another 700 at the department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters are also expected to be relieved.

Impacted employees will receive reduction-in-force notices by July 1, the department announced.

The reorganization was first reported by The Free Press and touted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Unless we confront the underlying bureaucratic culture that prevents the State Department from carrying out an effective foreign policy, while allowing offices like GEC to flourish in the shadows, nothing will change,” Rubio said of the move in perhaps the first-ever Substack post by a cabinet official.

“That is why I am initiating a broad reorganization of the Department to address the steady growth of bureaucracy, duplication of functions, and capture by special interests that have crippled American Foreign Policy.”

The announcement came on the heels of leaked internal memos in recent days proposing up to 50% budget cuts, including gutting United Nations and NATO funding, advocating to “drastically” downsize or close dozens of US embassies and consulates as well as to implement many of the consolidations via executive order.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said at the time that those plans weren’t “final” and added Tuesday that no one was “being fired today” — despite the sweeping restructuring efforts begun by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which closed USAID.

“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,” she told reporters.

Rubio’s Substack post went on to boast about moving to “drain the bloated, bureaucratic swamp” by eliminating “redundant offices” and “non-statutory programs misaligned with America’s core national interests.”

“Until now, overlapping mandates paired with conflicting responsibilities created an environment ripe for ideological capture and meaningless turf wars,” he wrote, knocking costly spending programs that made use of US taxpayer funding for the agendas of “left-wing activists.”

That included millions of dollars in grants to non-governmental groups “that facilitated mass migration around the world,” a de facto “arms embargo” of Israel and opposition campaigns against “‘anti-woke’ leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil,” according to the secretary.

Continued…..