WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has asked US embassies worldwide to prepare for staff cuts, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, as part of the Republican president’s effort to overhaul the US diplomatic corps.
The sources said some embassies had been asked to look into reducing both US staff as well as locally-employed staff by 10 percent each, with a list of the workforce due to be sent to the State Department by Friday, which will then determine further actions.
US embassies around the world employ both diplomats and local staff. Most embassy staff come from the host country, according to the National Museum of American Diplomacy.
Separately, a US official said that around 60 contractors at the State Department’s bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor had been terminated in recent weeks and that there was a possibility of further cuts in other bureaus.
ABC News first reported that US embassies had been told to start planning for staff reductions.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The moves come as Trump tries to reshape the diplomatic corps, issuing on Wednesday an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure “faithful and effective implementation” of his foreign policy agenda.
The order, which follows efforts to dismantle the US Agency for International Development, comes as Trump makes changes to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his “America First” agenda. He has also repeatedly pledged to “clean out the deep state” by firing bureaucrats that he deems disloyal.
The order, which was titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations” also says failure to implement the president’s agenda is grounds for professional discipline, which may result in firing personnel.
“The Secretary must maintain an exceptional workforce of patriots to implement this policy effectively,” the order read.
The order also directs a potential revamp of the Foreign Affairs Manual, a comprehensive set of policies and procedures that lay out how the State Department operates, at home and abroad.
Just hours after taking office on January 20, Trump ordered a freeze of most US foreign aid to ensure it was aligned with his “America First” policies. USAID, the chief US humanitarian agency, became the first target of the effort led by billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, to reduce the size of the US government.
Since January 20, Musk has dispatched members of his Department of Government Efficiency to scrutinize sensitive personnel and payment information in government computer systems. Aside from USAID, he led the drive to also dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that protects Americans from unscrupulous lenders.
US embassies told to prepare for staff cuts as Trump overhauls diplomatic corps
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US embassies told to prepare for staff cuts as Trump overhauls diplomatic corps
- US president tries to reshape diplomatic corps to align with 'America First' agenda
- 60 contractors terminated at State Department's bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
