Rubio Plans to Close Offices in State Department Overhaul

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(Bloomberg) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to reorganize what he called a “bloated” State Department, vowing Tuesday to cut programs and close offices but stopping short of a proposed executive order that outlined even more drastic changes.

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The top US diplomat circulated a proposed new organizational chart that would downgrade the office that oversees democracy and human rights and shut offices responsible for women’s issues, global health security, and diversity and inclusion

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“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. “Over the past 15 years, the Department’s footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy.”

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Rubio said the plan will combine some region-specific functions, close redundant offices and cut some programs that are “misaligned with America’s core national interests.” He also channeled rhetoric used by President Donald Trump, saying the department had created a system that had become “beholden to radical political ideology.”

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In an email to State Department staff that was obtained by Bloomberg News, Rubio said the reorganization will be led by Michael Rigas, Trump’s nominee for deputy secretary of state for management and resources, once he’s confirmed.

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The announcement was otherwise short on details and said only that the changes would be implemented “methodically” in the coming months. But Rubio’s X account linked to a story in the Free Press that said the State Department plans to close 132 offices, a number equivalent to 17% of all department offices, including those for human rights and preventing war crimes.

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The changes will result in the elimination of 700 positions, the Free Press said, citing internal documents. Under secretaries are also being asked to cut  their personnel by 15%, and the department is transferring 137 offices to other areas of the agency to consolidate programs, the Free Press said.

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The reorganization would also solidify the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate the US Agency for International Development and put its functions under direct control of the State Department. With oversight from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, USAID had largely been shut down and its staff laid off.

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Even so, Rubio’s proposal may come as a relief to some diplomats who had feared even more extensive changes as outlined in a proposed executive order that circulated in recent weeks. That proposal would have shut down embassies across Africa, closed the bureau that liaises with the United Nations and cut diplomatic operations in Canada, among other places.

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—With assistance from Jason Leopold.

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(Updates with more details starting in fourth paragraph.)

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