The US State Department has announced that it will proceed with mass layoffs as part of plans to overhaul the US diplomatic corps and cut jobs.
Michael Rigas, the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, informed the workforce in an email that the State Department will soon start sending notices to those impacted. Rigas added that with this the Department will enter “the final stage of its reorganisation and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy”.
As part of the restructuring, the layoffs referred to as reductions in force (RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will see several hundred bureaus merged or eliminated entirely. The move is the most significant restructuring of the department in decades and is in-line with President Donald Trump’s "America First" agenda.
Though Trump denies direct involvement, his actions closely align with “Project 2025” - a sweeping blueprint by the radical conservative think tank 'The Heritage Foundation'. For context - the blueprint aims to reshape the US government by expanding presidential power & purging federal institutions.
Also watch: Project 2025: Immigration to abortion ban, Trump delivers on Heritage Foundation's plan
Coming back, the layoffs were made possible after the US Supreme Court on July 8 cleared the way by lifting a federal judge’s order that had frozen the sweeping federal layoffs. Neither Rigas nor any other State Department official specified how many people would be fired.
But in May, in its plans to the US Congress, the Department had proposed laying off nearly 1,900 employees of the 18,000 estimated domestic workforce. Another 1,575 were estimated to have taken deferred resignations.
