Why is the Trump administration preparing to close nearly a dozen consulates abroad?!
The US State Department is preparing to close nearly a dozen consulates, mostly in Western Europe, in the coming months and is looking to reduce its workforce globally, Reuters reports.
The State Department is also considering the possible merger of a number of its expert bureaus at its Washington headquarters that are working in areas such as human rights, refugees, global criminal justice, women's issues and efforts to combat human trafficking, officials said.
Reuters reported last month that US missions around the world were asked to consider reducing American staff and local employees by at least 10% as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk unleash an unprecedented cost-cutting effort across the US federal workforce.
The Republican president wants to ensure that his bureaucracy is fully aligned with his “America First” agenda. Last month, he issued an executive order to overhaul the U.S. foreign service to ensure “faithful and effective” implementation of his foreign policy agenda. During his election campaign, he repeatedly vowed to “clean up the deep state” by firing bureaucrats he deems disloyal.
Critics say potential cuts to the U.S. diplomatic footprint along with the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided billions of dollars worth of aid globally, risk undermining American leadership and leaving a dangerous vacuum for adversaries like China and Russia to fill.
Trump and Musk say the U.S. government is too big and taxpayer-funded U.S. aid has been spent wastefully and fraudulently. Leipzig, Hamburg and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux, Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg in France and Florence in Italy were among the list of smaller consulates the State Department is considering closing, three officials said, adding that could still change as some staffers are making a case for them to stay open.
The department notified Congress on Monday that it plans to close its branch in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, a location from which Washington has supported humanitarian work in northern Syria. In Washington, dozens of contractors in the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor have been laid off in recent weeks. The office in the department that oversees the resettlement of Afghans in the United States has been told to develop plans to close by April, Reuters reported.
Diplomats working on Asia issues were asked to submit a brief assessment to justify the continuation of U.S. missions in the region. An internal State Department email in early February asked officials to provide a brief summary addressing the diplomatic significance of the mission and the importance of the “America First agenda,” according to the email, seen by Reuters.
The department operates more than 270 diplomatic missions around the world with a total workforce of nearly 70,000, according to its website. About 45,000 are employed domestic staff, 13,000 are foreign service members, and 11,000 are civil service employees. Following Trump’s sweeping freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign aid, thousands of USAID staff and contractors were laid off or furloughed, and billions of dollars in life-saving humanitarian assistance has been cut.
The US State Department is preparing to close nearly a dozen consulates, mostly in Western Europe, in the coming months and is looking to reduce its workforce globally, multiple US officials said on Thursday.
The State Department is also considering the possible merger of a number of its expert bureaus at its Washington headquarters that are working in areas such as human rights, refugees, global criminal justice, women's issues and efforts to combat human trafficking, officials said.
Reuters reported last month that US missions around the world were asked to consider reducing American staff and local employees by at least 10% as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk unleash an unprecedented cost-cutting effort across the US federal workforce.
The Republican president wants to ensure that his bureaucracy is fully aligned with his “America First” agenda. Last month, he issued an executive order to overhaul the U.S. foreign service to ensure “faithful and effective” implementation of his foreign policy agenda. During his election campaign, he repeatedly vowed to “clean up the deep state” by firing bureaucrats he deems disloyal.
Critics say potential cuts to the U.S. diplomatic footprint along with the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided billions of dollars worth of aid globally, risk undermining American leadership and leaving a dangerous vacuum for adversaries like China and Russia to fill.
Trump and Musk say the U.S. government is too big and taxpayer-funded U.S. aid has been spent wastefully and fraudulently. Leipzig, Hamburg and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux, Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg in France and Florence in Italy were among the list of smaller consulates the State Department is considering closing, three officials said, adding that could still change as some staffers are making a case for them to stay open.
The department notified Congress on Monday that it plans to close its branch in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, a location from which Washington has supported humanitarian work in northern Syria. In Washington, dozens of contractors in the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor have been laid off in recent weeks. The office in the department that oversees the resettlement of Afghans in the United States has been told to develop plans to close by April, Reuters reported.
Diplomats working on Asia issues were asked to submit a brief assessment to justify the continuation of U.S. missions in the region. An internal State Department email in early February asked officials to provide a brief summary addressing the diplomatic significance of the mission and the importance of the “America First agenda,” according to the email, seen by Reuters.
The department operates more than 270 diplomatic missions around the world with a total workforce of nearly 70,000, according to its website. About 45,000 are employed domestic staff, 13,000 are foreign service members, and 11,000 are civil service employees. Following Trump’s sweeping freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign aid, thousands of USAID staff and contractors were laid off or furloughed, and billions of dollars in life-saving humanitarian assistance has been cut.
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