Final month, the U.S. State Division carried out its largest single-day layoffs ever—greater than 1,300 workers gone in a single day in a sweeping shake-up. Diplomats, consular officers, and international affairs specialists awoke one morning able to serve and located themselves locked out of their emails by day’s finish. The Trump administration mentioned the dismissals have been a part of a “complete reorganization plan.” However these conversant in the establishment and its mission know that the White Home’s strikes are a harmful mistake.
In a current Overseas Coverage piece, columnist Matthew Kroenig argued that the State Division cuts have been a wise, long-overdue streamlining that will make the division extra centered, agile, and strategically related. After 37 years within the U.S. Overseas Service and now as president of the American Overseas Service Affiliation (AFSA), I can state emphatically that the truth appears very totally different.
Final month, the U.S. State Division carried out its largest single-day layoffs ever—greater than 1,300 workers gone in a single day in a sweeping shake-up. Diplomats, consular officers, and international affairs specialists awoke one morning able to serve and located themselves locked out of their emails by day’s finish. The Trump administration mentioned the dismissals have been a part of a “complete reorganization plan.” However these conversant in the establishment and its mission know that the White Home’s strikes are a harmful mistake.
In a current Overseas Coverage piece, columnist Matthew Kroenig argued that the State Division cuts have been a wise, long-overdue streamlining that will make the division extra centered, agile, and strategically related. After 37 years within the U.S. Overseas Service and now as president of the American Overseas Service Affiliation (AFSA), I can state emphatically that the truth appears very totally different.
AFSA is an expert affiliation and union representing members of the Overseas Service from six international affairs businesses, together with the State Division. Whereas AFSA has lengthy labored productively with each Republican and Democratic administrations, by no means has it skilled such a whole disregard for the experience and perspective of those that know the U.S. diplomatic workforce greatest.
There may be broad consensus within the international affairs group that operational procedures do want reform—if solely to streamline the notorious clearance course of or make clear the division of oversight between regional and useful bureaus. However the Trump administration’s chaotic firing of the very subject-matter consultants who may most successfully result in such modifications is a first-rate instance of mismanagement at its worst.
AFSA has seen previous administrations execute good reforms—ones that made the division nimbler, smarter, and higher. These have been marked by cautious planning, broad session, and a deal with strengthening diplomats’ capacity to serve the American individuals. For instance, in 1999, after a cautious assessment course of, the Clinton administration consolidated the U.S. Data Company and the Arms Management and Disarmament Company into the State Division with minimal disruption. Management offered ample discover to all events concerned, sought (and acquired) enter from them, and obtained their buy-in to guarantee a clean transition of crucial features.
This newest spherical of reforms had none of these qualities. It was quick, chaotic, and extra about making headlines than making the division stronger. The Trump administration’s diplomatic shake-up didn’t simply unsettle individuals in Foggy Backside—it left the USA weaker, much less revered, and fewer secure.
Kroenig’s portrayal of a bloated Washington paperwork misses the mark. The State Division’s progress over the previous 20 years—below management of each political events—has been commensurate with the mounting threats to U.S. nationwide safety and immediately tied to nationwide priorities: opening embassies to counter China, hiring extra consular officers to satisfy report demand for passports and visas, and including consultants in cybersecurity and battle prevention.
Kroenig accurately famous that U.S. diplomats are the “pointy finish of the spear” of U.S. international coverage. However it’s subject-matter consultants in Washington who goal that spear by analyzing intelligence, assessing U.S. priorities, and directing authorities assets. In a single fell swoop, the division’s management undermined their capacity to do exactly that.
Additionally deceptive is Kroenig’s declare that the State Division didn’t reduce any international service officers primarily based abroad. I’ve heard from laid-off officers who shared regarding tales that counter this narrative.
One officer in Turkey was managing an important visa operation that served candidates from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. On July 11, they have been reduce off from their cellphone and e mail with no aircraft ticket house. That workplace now has no devoted supervisor. One other officer was set to guide the U.S. Embassy in Tonga as chargé d’affaires—a strategically vital publish within the Pacific. That they had journey orders and tickets in hand. However on July 11, they have been out of a job, leaving the embassy in Tongo leaderless at a time when China is increasing its affect within the area.
Turkey and Tonga aren’t remoted instances. Around the globe, key posts and workplaces from Senegal to China have been left leaderless in the identical abrupt, damaging vogue. Even the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv—one of many highest precedence posts—was not spared from cuts.
Kroenig downplayed the State Division’s 1,350 layoffs as only a sliver of an 80,000-person group. However that quantity contains greater than 50,000 domestically employed workers abroad, who’re very important to U.S. missions however not a part of the Washington-based coverage core. (No domestically employed abroad workers have been a part of the July 11 layoffs, in accordance with AFSA’s tallies.) Measured towards the precise U.S.-based workforce—which numbered about 17,600 in 2024—the cuts quantity to just about 8 p.c. That does extra than simply trim the fats—it cuts into muscle and bone. Shedding workers on this method is the distinction between a division that may nonetheless perform and one that may’t.
Furthermore, the Trump administration’s reform course of was not deliberate. Opposite to Kroenig’s account, the division didn’t “work for months to get the reorganization proper.” A survey of practically 200 AFSA members who misplaced their jobs on July 11 revealed they have been fired even after the division, in its official notification of the reorganization to Congress, acknowledged that there could be “no important modifications” to its workplaces. State Division officers mentioned strategies have been “solicited” throughout the company, however the shortage of transparency within the decision-making course of makes us imagine that each one key decisions have been made by a small circle of insiders with little or no expertise in international affairs or managing the division’s advanced operations.
Underneath earlier administrations, any potential Overseas Service layoffs had a transparent, merit-based course of that ranked workers globally on efficiency, tenure, international language capacity, and army veteran standing, then the exhausting calls have been made. Nevertheless, simply three days earlier than the July 11 layoffs, the Trump administration scrapped these standards. The one factor that mattered was the place an worker was assigned on Might 29, immediately contradicting the testimony of Michael Rigas, deputy secretary of state for administration and assets, to the Senate Overseas Relations Committee.
The outcome was predictable: Seasoned officers with crucial language abilities—together with Russian, Arabic, and Chinese language—veterans with disabilities, and folks already assigned to high-priority hardship posts have been proven the door with out consideration for his or her service or experience. Think about closing a army base and firing each soldier stationed there, no matter rank, report, or pending assignments.
There may be nonetheless time to avert the cuts’ long-term harm to the USA’ diplomatic energy, however provided that State Division management acknowledges its errors and modifications course now. Because the mass layoffs, the division has reversed dozens of its choices, inviting some workers to return to their duties. This can be a step in the suitable course, however management must go additional. If they really imagine the division is overstaffed, then they need to return to the beforehand agreed-upon reduction-in-force guidelines that had been in impact for many years, show what fields are overstaffed, and proceed with their reorganization plan accordingly.
The US’ adversaries are watching this self-inflicted wound. The query is whether or not the nation has the desire to staunch it earlier than it does everlasting harm.
If you happen to or somebody you already know has been affected by current staffing modifications on the State Division, Overseas Coverage is providing six months of complimentary entry. Please share this provide or full the shape to see for those who’re eligible.
