State Department is firing over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gestures as he boards his flight before departing from Subang Air Base on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on Friday July after attending the th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting Mandel Ngan Pool Photo via AP AP Mandel Ngan US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gestures as he boards his flight before departing from Subang Air Base on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on Friday July after attending the th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting Mandel Ngan Pool Photo via AP AP Mandel Ngan KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia AP The State Department is firing more than employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year The department is sending layoff notices to civil servants and foreign utility officers with domestic assignments in the United States explained a senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters ahead of individual notices being emailed to affected employees Foreign organization officers affected will be placed without delay on administrative leave for days after which they will formally lose their jobs according to an internal notice obtained by The Associated Press For majority of affected civil servants the separation period is days it mentioned In connection with the departmental reorganization the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities the notice says Headcount reductions have been meticulously tailored to affect non-core functions duplicative or redundant offices and offices where considerable efficiencies may be ascertained from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities While lauded by President Donald Trump Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their Republican allies as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner more nimble and more efficient the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U S influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal authorities including mass dismissals as part of moves to dismantle whole departments like the U S Agency for International Advance and the Coaching Department A contemporary ruling by the Supreme Court cleared the way for the layoffs to start while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue to play out The department had formally advised staffers on Thursday that it would be sending layoff notices to selected of them soon The job cuts are large but considerably less than plenty of had feared Rubio mentioned officers took a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused It s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people But if you close the bureau you don t need those positions he narrated reporters Thursday in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where he s attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum Understand that chosen of these are positions that are being eliminated not people He announced chosen of the cuts will be unfilled positions or those that are about to be vacant because an employee took an early retirement The American Foreign Utility Association the union that represents diplomats urged the State Department last month to hold off on job cuts Notices for a reduction in force which would not only lay off employees but eliminate positions altogether should be a last resort association President Tom Yazdgerdi declared Disrupting the Foreign Organization like this puts national interests at menace and Americans everywhere will bear the consequences Michael Rigas the department s deputy secretary for management and guidance reported in a notice Thursday that select staffers would be informed if they were being laid off and called it part of the department s biggest reorganization in decades Soon the Department will be communicating to individuals affected by the reduction in force First and foremost we want to thank them for their dedication and institution to the United States he announced In late May the State Department notified Congress of an updated reorganization plan proposing cuts to programs beyond what had been revealed earlier by Rubio and an reduction of staff in the U S even higher than the initially floated in April The restructuring has been driven in part by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of USAID which was an early target of the Trump administration and then-aide Elon Musk s Department of Cabinet Efficiency The State Department is planning to eliminate several divisions tasked with oversight of America s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the U S military A letter that the department had sent to Congress noted that the reorganization will affect more than bureaus and offices saying it is eliminating divisions it describes as doing unclear or overlapping work It says Rubio believes effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy That letter was clear that the reorganization also is intended to eliminate programs particularly those related to refugees and immigration as well as human rights and democracy promotion that the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies Follow the AP s coverage of the U S Department of State at https apnews com hub us-department-of-state Source