US State Department lays off more than 1,300 people

The State Department began laying off more than 1,300 workers Friday, proceeding with long-expected staff cuts that nonetheless came with some surprises in terms of who was cut and confusion on whether some notices were sent in error.

According to an internal State Department memo, 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers were being laid off Friday. Affected staffers received notices informing them they were being placed on immediate administrative leave and that they would be terminated in 60 days if they were civil service or 120 days if they were foreign service officers.

The cuts made good on one part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s pledge to overhaul Foggy Bottom and root out what he alleges is inefficiency. The decision to proceed with the layoffs followed a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the week allowing for the Trump administration to proceed with sweeping layoffs at federal agencies and departments.

Layoffs largely affected bureaus and offices that managed foreign assistance programs and worked on issues of energy policy, global human rights and refugees and migration issues — moves that the administration had telegraphed in advance. But several management and operational departments were also gutted, and some sections of the State Department that U.S. law requires be staffed — such as the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts — were also hit with layoffs.

Rubio promised lawmakers in May that by the beginning of July, his department would move forward with an overhaul of the agency that would tailor America’s diplomatic resources to better advance U.S. interests.

Ahead of the layoffs, the State Department modified employment rules to allow for the dismissal of foreign service officers assigned to work from State Department headquarters based on the unit they were assigned to in Foggy Bottom.

But despite the long wait for the cuts and the seeming preparations, the process of severing employees was far from smooth.

At least one staffer received a layoff notice Friday but was told later that they’d been sent the notice in error and were not, in fact, losing their job, per one message seen by POLITICO.

In that message, Global Talent Management chief Lew Olowski blamed it on “an administrative error.” It was not immediately clear how many people received such retractions.

That indicates that even State, which has conducted a relatively orderly purge of staff, may encounter more hiccups down the line, and the total number may be different. Asked about the erroneous notices, the State Department responded with a statement: “There were very minor discrepancies, which were immediately resolved in real time by an organized and prepared State Department response team.”

Staffers weren’t shy about expressing that they felt “jerked around” by a leadership team they accuse of putting political interests above national interests.

“We are being run by incompetent, nihilistic, right-wing Maoists,” a fired staffer said. The staffer, like others, was granted anonymity out of fear of further reprisals.

At least one flier was posted in restrooms around the State Department urging remaining colleagues to “resist fascism” and to “remember the oath you vowed to uphold.”

The general expectation had been that more than 2,000 State Department employees would get pink slips, including 750 foreign service officers. The lower number of staffers affected is likely attributable to the fact many State Department staff took advantage of a deferred resignation program. Overall, around 3,000 members of the workforce will be leaving, the memo said, suggesting more than 1,800 State Department employees opted to voluntarily depart.

The bureaus hit hardest by the cuts included Energy Resources; Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and Population; Refugees and Migration; Consular Affairs. So too were offices managing foreign assistance programs. The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations was also eliminated. But staff reductions also affected more management divisions than initially expected. Notices went out to staff in Diplomatic Technology, the Office of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services and the offices running the U.S. Foreign Service Internship Program and prestigious fellowships such as the Pickering.

The Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, which is a congressionally mandated office, also saw layoffs. Shawn VanDiver, who leads the organization AfghanEvac and advocates for the resettlement of Afghan refugees who helped the U.S. during 20-year U.S. operations in the country, said State fired the current acting coordinator of the office. VanDiver noted that State must name a coordinator to comply with federal laws providing for the resettlement.

Many employees who were pushed out were considered high performers or had specialized skills like speaking multiple difficult languages, according to a State Department staffer affected by the layoffs. That claim is backed up by the American Foreign Service Association, which represents foreign service officers and is arguing skills and languages were not accounted for in the staff cuts. That may be because the layoffs appeared partly based on which office the staffer was in, as opposed to their skills or work history. This has felt especially unfair to foreign service staffers, who rotate offices every few years.

Ahead of the layoffs, Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the move “illegal” even after the Supreme Court greenlit the cuts.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Friday that cuts were made accounting for “extensive feedback” and reiterated department leadership’s commitment to the tens of thousands of employees who remain. In an X post, she also said the layoffs were necessary to “make our work more efficient, nimble, and effective — making America safer, stronger and more prosperous.”

At a “clap out” for fired employees Friday afternoon, current State Department employees lined up outside the entrance to the Harry S. Truman building in Washington to salute their ex-colleagues. Employees, some in tears, trickled out of the building with boxes, tote bags and suitcases full of their office contents. One employee carried a sign saying “Diplomacy Matters. Facts Matter.”

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and former State Department officials also held a rally Friday to protest the cuts. A few hundred people, running the gamut from children to former ambassadors and diplomats to some of the recently fired employees, gathered at the entrance on 22nd and C Street NW.

Several women wearing black veils carried posters shaped like tombstones with the words “diplomacy,” “human rights” and “democracy” inscribed on them, as others toted signs calling Rubio a “fascist.” At one point, protesters chanted “Where is Marco?” in reference to the fact that the layoffs occured while the secretary was returning to Washington from a summit of Asian nations in Malaysia.

To Rubio’s critics at the rally, the move robs the State Department of needed subject matter expertise at a time when America faces complex treats.

“What is happening today with the layoffs of 1,300 patriotic public servants, weakens America. It makes us less safe,” Van Hollen said. “This is America in retreat, and we don’t want America retreating.”

Michael Duffin, a staffer who lost his job because the State Department eliminated its Office for Countering Violent Extremism, bemoaned there was no consideration of the personal hardships employees have endured throughout American history in service of their country.

“Their sacrifices were not made for a president or a political party, but to the principles of our great republic, which has stood strong since 1776,” Duffin told the crowd. “No one at the State Department disagreed with the need for reform, but arbitrarily laying off people like me and others, irrespective of their performance is not the right way to do it.”