❓WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. State Department will begin mass layoffs of many employees in the coming days.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. State Department, Secretary Marco Rubio, and the Trump administration.
📍WHEN & WHERE: United States, over the coming days.
💬KEY QUOTE: “It will happen quickly.” – State Dept. spokeswoman Tammy Bruce
🎯IMPACT: Thousands of civil and foreign affairs employees face termination as early as this week.
On Thursday, the State Department informed US-based employees that nearly 2,000 workers will be laid off after a recent Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to proceed with mass job cuts to downsize the federal government. In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a plan to streamline the department by cutting out redundant functions and offices.
In an e-mail, Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Michael Rigas announced that employees impacted by the “reduction in force” will soon receive notifications. He noted that efforts have been made to support departing staff, including those in the Deferred Resignation Programs. “On behalf of Department leadership, we extend our gratitude for your hard work… and ongoing dedication to advancing U.S. national interests,” Rigas said.
The department did not specify how many employees would be dismissed. However, according to a plan sent to Congress in May, approximately 1,800—out of an estimated domestic workforce of 18,000—were proposed for layoffs.
Workers laid off will be from the civil and foreign services. Congress stated that more than 300 of the department’s 734 bureaus and offices would be streamlined, merged, or eliminated.
Tammy Bruce, a spokeswoman for the State Department, informed reporters that the implementation of force reductions had been delayed due to judicial interventions, but mass layoffs will now occur rapidly.
“There has been a delay—not to our interests, but because of the courts,” Bruce noted. “It’s been difficult when you know you need to get something done for the benefit of everyone.”
“When something is too large to operate, too bureaucratic, to actually function, and to deliver projects, or action, it has to change,” she added.
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