The US State Department on Thursday said it would soon start notifying employees of layoffs under sweeping plans to reorganise America's foreign service.
The department told Congress in May that it wanted to cut thousands of jobs as it aligns with President Donald Trump's “America First” agenda.
Layoff notices would be sent out shortly in what amounts to the largest reorganisation in decades, US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas said.
“Once notifications have taken place, the department will enter the final stage of its reorganisation and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy,” he said.
The so-called reductions in force, known as RIFs, are expected to cut about 15 per cent of the State Department's domestic workforce of about 18,000 people. A senior department official said more than half of the cuts would come through voluntary resignations.
It appeared that there were no immediate plans to fire foreign service workers posted overseas.
“A lot of this covers redundant offices and takes some of these cost-cutting functions and moves them to the regional bureaus and to our embassies overseas, to the people who are closest to where diplomacy is happening, to empower them with the resources and authorities they need to be able to carry out the President's foreign policy,” the senior official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said cuts are needed to shrink a bloated bureaucracy that has seen “higher costs and fewer results for the American people”.
The layoffs are proceeding after the Supreme Court this week ruled in favour of the Trump administration's plans for the mass firings of federal workers.
The plans to Congress said more than 300 of the department's 734 bureaus and offices will be streamlined, merged or eliminated.
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