State Department Offices are Next

 

BY C STONE | STONE NEWS NETWORK ||| WASHINGTON, D.C.

Sources: Politico

Apparently there is a draft of an executive order that has been circulating - but since dismissed as fake by Marco Rubio, calling it 'fake news'.

Many people in the State Department are nervous about the possibility of job cuts. And who wouldn't be. Rumors are the Trump Administration is looking to radically change the State Department using a large amount of job cuts.

The rumors list:

* Eliminating traditional State Department offices and bureaus

* Changing how the foreign service postings work

* Eliminate the regional bureau assigned to Africa

* Shrink the U.S. diplomatic presence in Canada

According to multiple news sources, this change could happen as soon as Tuesday - but we have no concrete evidence showing that.

The Trump administration is deciding whether or not to ask Congress to slash the State Department and USAID budgets by 50% to $28.4 billion  USD.

Instead of using physical bureau's in other countries, it would be replaced by four new diplomats representing Eurasia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Indo-Pacific.

Per Politico:

The document calls for eliminating regional bureaus within the department and replacing them with four new diplomatic “corps” on Eurasia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Indo-Pacific.

Some of the most startling shifts outlined in the purported order address how the U.S. approaches Africa. Under changes proposed within it, much of the State Department’s work on the region would be farmed out to the White House and all “non-essential embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa” would be closed by Oct. 1, 2025. A Special Envoy for African Affairs reporting directly to the National Security Council would replace the African Affairs bureau.

The plan would also see the U.S. significantly reduce the number of diplomats dedicated to managing U.S. relations with Canada, including by downscaling operations of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa with a specialized team of less than 20 to work with the top diplomat there.

Both moves have the potential to upend routine services for Americans abroad in those places such as helping travelers with lost passports or registering births, but the plan makes no mention of how it would address that.

The purported order would altogether eliminate the Policy Planning bureau, traditionally a center of power in State Departments of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as the bureau of conflict stability operations and the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor.