State Department to eliminate 132 offices in major restructuring: report

Internal documents obtained by the outlet revealed the plans to reorganize, which include the elimination or restructuring of hundreds of DC offices. In total, the State Department will reportedly reduce its number of offices by 17 percent, from 734 offices to 602.

A senior State Department official told the outlet that undersecretaries at the department have also been instructed to come up with plans to reduce their US personnel in their individual departments by 15 percent within 30 days.

Around a dozen top State Department officials were briefed on the plans early Tuesday morning, and a letter was sent to Congress informing lawmakers of forthcoming changes to the department. Officials have reportedly said this is the biggest shake-up at the department "in decades."

In a statement to the outlet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "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. That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department into the twenty-first century."

One US official familiar with the matter said that Rubio was working alongside the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the reorganization. DOGE has been working since the start of the second Trump administration to drastically cut government waste, fraud, and abuse.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the department is "desperately in need of significant reorganization, and there’s much efficiency that can be gained there."

Overall, the department will be eliminating 132 offices that are wings in DC, with 700 positions within these offices being eliminated as well. These wings, The Free Press reported, focus on foreign policy issues and are viewed as no longer necessary by the current administration. Additionally, 137 offices are being transferred to consolidate programs. The programs being cut are not those that require approval from Congress, a senior State Department official said.

Rubio said, "This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies. Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist."

Among the programs involved in the restructuring is the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, also known as the agency’s "J programs." The J office will be renamed as the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance and Human Rights, and its Office of Global Criminal Justice will be abolished, The Free Press reported.