The U.S. State Department is firing more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad.
The department has begun sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Staff began to receive notices shortly after 10 a.m. Friday saying their positions were being ''abolished'' and that they would be losing access to the department's headquarters in Washington as well as their email and share drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy of one of the notices obtained by The Associated Press.
Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to a separate internal notice. For most civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.
''Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices,'' the notice says.
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 the ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
The layoffs are part of big changes to State Department work
The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals driven by the Department of Government Efficiency and moves to dismantle whole departments like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Education Department.