The US State Department has begun firing more than 1,350 US-based employees as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs that started on Friday will cover 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, according to an internal State Department notice sent to the workforce and seen by Reuters news agency.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," the notice said.
"Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found," it added.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his "America First" agenda.
'An act of vandalism'
Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America's ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
"As the US retreats, our adversaries — like the People’s Republic of China — are expanding their diplomatic reach, making Americans less safe and less prosperous. If this administration is serious about putting 'America first,' it must invest in our diplomatic corps and national security experts — not erode the institutions that protect our interests, promote US values and keep Americans abroad safe," a statement by ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned.
"This is bad management of an important resource: American diplomats," said a statement from The American Academy of Diplomacy, which represents former ambassadors.
"At a time when the United States faces unprecedented challenges from strategic competitors and adversaries, ongoing conflicts in Central Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and emerging security threats, the decision to gut the Department of State’s institutional knowledge and operational capacity is an act of vandalism."
Trump in February ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure that the Republican president's foreign policy is "faithfully" implemented.
He has also repeatedly pledged to "clean out the deep state" by firing bureaucrats that he deems disloyal.
The shake-up is part of an unprecedented push by Trump to shrink the federal bureaucracy and cut what he says is wasteful spending of taxpayer money.
The reorganisation had been expected to be largely concluded by July 1 but did not proceed as planned amid ongoing litigation, as the State Department waited for the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration's bid to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts.
On Tuesday, the Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to pursue the job cuts and the sweeping downsising of numerous agencies, a decision that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs while dramatically reshaping the federal bureaucracy.
Trump reshaping American diplomacy
"The Supreme Court's recent near-unanimous decision allows the reorganisation to commence and will ensure that the department moves at the speed of relevancy and restores the department to its roots of results-driven democracy," State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told media on Thursday.
"The plan, which has been approved by the Secretary and developed with extensive feedback from Congress and the workforce itself, is moving into implementation."
Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by The Associated Press.
For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.
The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals as part of moves to dismantle whole departments like the US Agency for International Development and the Education Department.
USAID, the six-decade-old foreign assistance agency, was absorbed into the State Department last week after the administration dramatically slashed foreign aid funding.
