July 11 (UPI) — Employees of the U.S. State Department could receive a layoff notice via email very soon as part of the Trump administration’s plan to downsize the government, according to an in ternal memo.
The Washington Post reported late Thursday night it had obtained a memo from Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas that informed State Department employees to be on the lookout for an email “in the coming days” in regard to layoffs. CNN reported Thursday that the email would come from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that will say “Soon, the Department will be communicating to individuals affected by the reduction in force,” and that firings could begin as soon as Friday. A draft reduction-in-force notice acquired by CBS News said the objective is “streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” and that the terminations “have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions.”
The State Department had told Congress in May it planned to fire more than 1,870 people within its domestic workforce of 18,730, and over 1,570 have said they would voluntarily exit.
More than 300 offices and bureaus would be impacted and will include members of the foreign and civil service whose offices are being either retooled or outright eliminated.
Uncertainty over the status of the plan has negatively impacted morale at the department, as workers wait to see if they are to receive the axe, some of which have worked there for years or even decades, The Washington Post reported.
CBS also reported that the department told reporters it intends to conduct the reductions-in-force over a single day.
One State Department employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post last month that the move showed the department’s leadership “either doesn’t appreciate or just doesn’t care” about its workforce.
“We will continue to move forward with our historic reorganization plan at the State Department, as announced earlier this year,” Rubio said in a X post Tuesday.
“When you reorganize the State Department, there were certain bureaus we wanted to empower, the regional bureaus, and there were certain bureaus, these functional bureaus, that were closed,” he told reporters Thursday.
The State Department officially told Congress in May that it planned to eliminate around 3,400 U.S.-based jobs and will either close or merge nearly half of its domestic offices.
However, those working at overseas posts are reportedly safe from termination.
American Foreign Service Association President Thomas Yazdgerdi told CNN Wednesday that the expected layoffs are coming at “a particularly bad time.”
“There are horrible things that are happening in the world that require a tried-and-true diplomatic workforce that’s able to address that,” he continued. “The ability to maintain a presence in the areas of the world that are incredibly important, dealing with issues like Ukraine, like Gaza, like Iran right now that require great diplomatic attention.”
The plan will also integrate the functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development into the State Department.
The State Department had told Congress it planned to complete its reorganization by July 1, but those plans were temporarily paused by rulings from a lower court until earlier this week, when the Supreme Court cleared a path for the Trump administration to begin mass firings and changes at 19 departments and agencies.
The lower court had blocked the layoffs, as the administration did not first consult with Congress.