US State Department to eliminate over 100 bureaus, offices

Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled an overhaul of the US State Department on Tuesday.

As part of the Trump administration’s “America First” mandate, the department is set to reduce its staff by 15% as it closes and consolidates more than 100 offices and bureaus worldwide.

What do we know about the overhaul?

According to an internal memo seen by Reuters and the Associated Press, the plan – of which Congress has been informed – would eliminate 132 of the State Department’s 734 bureaus and offices. A further 137 offices will be transitioned to another location within the department to “increase efficiency,” the AP reported, citing a fact sheet it had obtained.

“In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition,” Rubio said in a statement on social media platform X.

“That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department into the 21st Century. This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies,” Rubio said.

Which offices are likely to be closed?

It has not been immediately clear how many people would be laid off as a result of the revamp but some of the bureaus that are expected to be cut include the Office of Global Women’s Issues.

The department’s diversity and inclusion efforts, which have been cut government-wide since President Donald Trump took office in January, are also expected to be closed.

There is also set to be a “reimagined” office with a focus on foreign and humanitarian affairs that will coordinate the remaining foreign assistance programs left at the State Department, following the recent dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Previous reports suggested that offices previously under the Undersecretary of Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights would be lost but Rubio’s fact sheet indicated that much of that work will continue in other sections of the department.

Both Rubio and officials have said the “bloated” structure of the State Department made it impossible to quickly and efficiently make decisions.

The intention of the new plan would be to attempt to empower regional bureaus to increase functionality and remove offices and programs not aligned with the US’s core national interests under the Trump administration, Rubio and other officials said.

Trump had issued a separate executive order in February directing Rubio to revamp the US Foreign Service and how the State Department functions to ensure that the US diplomatic corps staunchly implements his agenda.