US state department announces plan to lay off nearly 15% of its domestic workforce
Source: The Guardian
Thu 10 Jul 2025 18.01 EDT
Last modified on Thu 10 Jul 2025 18.02 EDT
The US state department has announced that it plans to move forward with mass layoffs as part of the most significant restructuring of the country’s diplomatic corps in decades. Officials say the cuts will align their mission with Donald Trump’s vision of America first.
The layoffs, which are commonly called reductions in force (or RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will affect nearly 15% of the state department’s domestic staff. A senior state department official said that was close to 1,800 people. The restructuring will also see several hundred bureaus merged or eliminated entirely. The department advises the president and leads the US in foreign policy issues.
The state department went forward with the layoffs, which were long expected, after the supreme court sided this week with the Trump administration against a federal judge’s hold on plans for mass government firings that could affect hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
“In the coming days, the department will be communicating to individuals affected by the reduction in force. First and foremost, we want to thank them for their dedication and service to the United States,” read a memo attributed to Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary for management and resources, announcing the layoffs.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/10/state-department-layoffs-rif-trump
yes but ONLY if authorized by Congress BEFOREHAND, NOT after the fact.
They have been doing a "Fire! Ready. Aim" strategy and the media is too stupid or too lazy or too cheap to get some government-knowledgeable analyst/reporter to help them set the record straight.
They even muddied the latest SCOTUS ruling which basically said - "Yes you can draw up the plans beforehand" but that didn't mean they could then go ahead and execute those plans until they had approval for a rescission because the damn FUNDS were already authorized and appropriated in that C.R. that they passed.
= new reply since forum marked as read
