Sources describe disarray at State Department after Trump administration's layoffs [View all]
Source: CBS News
July 16, 2025 / 11:46 PM EDT
The sweeping layoffs that hit the State Department last week have triggered confusion and disruption at the agency, gutting some offices unexpectedly and forcing staff to scramble, multiple sources told CBS News. The significant reductions and wholesale elimination of several key offices have heightened meaningful risks to U.S. national security, current and former officials said. "It is frustrating that someone who does not know the worth of what they're breaking, breaks it," a U.S. official who was laid off Friday told CBS News.
The Trump administration cut 1,353 domestic State Department staffers on Friday, part of a long-planned effort to reorganize the agency and slash its U.S.-based staff by around 15%. The administration says the layoffs — along with thousands of voluntary departures — were necessary to streamline a department it argues had become bloated and bureaucratic.
"We took a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last week.
Multiple State Department employees who spoke to CBS argued the cuts were arbitrary and poorly executed, and could damage U.S. foreign relations while also weakening the country's diplomatic corps. And sources described last week's layoffs as chaotic, with some of the department's bureaus and offices — including staffers who work on passport fraud — facing cuts despite earlier indications to Congress that they would be left alone.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sources-describe-disarray-at-state-department-after-trump-administrations-layoffs/
= new reply since forum marked as read