State Department Lays Off 1,353 Employees Amid Major Reorganization

As part of the Trump administration’s comprehensive plan to restructure the agency, the State Department started firing more than 1,300 employees on Friday in an effort to reduce the number of employees in the United States by roughly 15%.

According to a memo that was issued to State Department employees Friday morning, the involuntary workforce reductions include 246 foreign service employees and 1,107 civil service employees.

According to the department, “nearly 3,000” employees are leaving as part of the State Department’s reorganization, including those who accepted the voluntary “Fork in the Road” retirement offer earlier this year.

Shortly after, the agency is restructuring its organizational hierarchy and shutting or combining dozens of U.S.-based locations.

For months, the layoffs, known as a reduction-in-force, or RIF, were anticipated. In March, officials announced the layoffs in a restructuring plan sent to Congress. The cuts, according to the Trump administration, are required to eliminate unnecessary offices and concentrate the department on its primary duties.

The reduction, according to critics, would jeopardize the State Department’s efforts. The RIFs were condemned in a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday by every Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“During a time of increasingly complex and wide-spread challenges to U.S. national security, this administration should be strengthening our diplomatic corps—an irreplaceable instrument of U.S. power and leadership—not weakening it,” the senators wrote in their letter.

“However, RIFs would severely undermine the Department’s ability to achieve U.S. foreign policy interests, putting our nation’s security, strength, and prosperity at risk.”

According to the notification provided to employees, civil service officials will be separated in 60 days, while foreign service officers who got RIF warnings would be separated in 120 days.

The long-planned layoffs are occurring just days after a lower court injunction that stopped layoff plans at dozens of federal agencies was halted by the Supreme Court, which opened the way for the Trump administration’s expansive plans to reduce the size of the government workforce.

Deputy Secretary of State Michael Rigas sent out a note Thursday afternoon informing department employees of the upcoming reduction-in-force plans and thanking departing employees “for their dedication and service to the United States.” RIF notices began flowing out to impacted employees on Friday morning, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The department previously informed media that it intended to carry out the troop reductions in a single day.

Some staff members were informed that they would not be allowed to work remotely on Friday due to the expected RIF and that they would need to report to work using all department-issued devices, such as computers, phones, diplomatic passports, travel cards, and any other State Department property. Staff were informed via email that badges would be gathered during “out processing,” and they were to make sure that any personal belongings were picked up prior to that time.

Some State Department restrooms on Friday had signs telling the remaining employees to “resist fascism” and “remember the oath you vowed to uphold.”