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A draft executive order outlines the Trump administration’s plans to gut significant parts of the State Department, including ending nearly all of its Africa operations while closing embassies and consulates. The draft additionally proposed eliminating programs that address climate change, human rights and refugee issues, and democracy.
The draft, obtained by The New York Times, also calls for mass firings and broad adoption of artificial intelligence for the purposes of “policy development and review” and “operational planning.” And it would eliminate regional offices that help shape and implement policy.
On the chopping block are career diplomats who serve as foreign service officers and staff at State Department headquarters in D.C., current and former U.S. officials familiar with the plans told The Times. The cuts would begin with placing staff on paid leave and distributing termination notices. New hiring criteria would require that diplomats be in “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.”
Under the new plan, the State Department would close its bureau of African affairs, which currently develops and manages U.S. policy in Africa. It would also shut down any “nonessential” embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa by Oct. 1. Instead of having an established presence on the continent, the government would send diplomats there on “targeted, mission-driven deployments.”
The State Department’s Canada operations would be folded into a new North American affairs office under Secretary of State Marco Rubio with significantly reduced staff.
The plans would affect scholarships as well, restricting prestigious Fulbright scholarships only to master’s students studying national security and ending the Rangel and Pickering fellowships — both of which were created with the goal of helping students from underrepresented groups to join the Foreign Service.
The draft executive order is one of many documents that detail plans for the State Department. The paper noted that it is “unclear to what degree they would be adopted or how active the draft is,” according to talks with officials. The document could undergo changes before it reaches the president’s desk for signature.
After the Times published its story, Rubio posted on social media calling it “fake news.”
The document calls changes to the department “a disciplined reorganization” to “streamline mission delivery” and combat “waste, fraud and abuse.” Other internal memos reportedly detail plans to reduce the agency’s budget by almost half next fiscal year and eliminate 10 embassies and 17 consulates.
