WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department has begun firing more than 1,350 domestic employees in one of its largest workforce reductions in decades.
The layoffs include 1,107 civil service employees and 246 Foreign Service officers based in the United States. In total, the department expects around 3,000 positions will be eliminated or vacated when including voluntary departures, reducing its domestic staff by roughly 15 percent.
The layoffs follow a recent Supreme Court ruling that lifted a judicial block on mass federal reductions-in-force, clearing the way for the administration’s reorganization plans. The State Department says it is eliminating what it calls “non-core, duplicative, or redundant” offices and programs, aiming to streamline operations and reallocate resources to “core diplomatic priorities” in line with President Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Among the offices slated for cuts or closures are those handling refugee resettlement, human rights monitoring, foreign aid coordination, and some democracy-promotion functions. Much of USAID’s work is also being absorbed directly into the State Department.
Implementation of the layoffs began immediately. Employees were given either 60-day (for civil service) or 120-day (for Foreign Service) separation notices. In Washington, staff were processed through designated “Outprocessing” centers to turn in badges and equipment, with some leaving to applause and visible protests from colleagues.
Critics, including the American Foreign Service Association, former diplomats, and Democratic lawmakers, have condemned the move as reckless and dangerous. They warn it will undermine the United States’ ability to respond to crises worldwide, including ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, tensions with Iran, and competition with China. Senators such as Tim Kaine have called the timing “one of the most ridiculous decisions,” arguing the government is gutting its own diplomatic capacity during heightened global instability.
Despite the outcry, the administration says further reductions are planned in other federal agencies, arguing these changes will modernize and slim down government. Meanwhile, legal challenges over the broader authority for such mass terminations continue in lower courts, even as the Supreme Court’s ruling has allowed this first wave of layoffs to proceed.
This sweeping reduction marks a dramatic shift in how the U.S. conducts diplomacy and manages its foreign policy apparatus.
Critics fear it will leave the country less prepared to handle crises and diminish its global influence at a critical time.
