A draft of a #Trump admin #ExecutiveOrder obtained by NYT proposes a drastic restructuring of the #State Dept, including eliminating almost all of its #Africa operations. The order, which could be signed by Trump this week, also calls for cutting offices at State Dept headquarters that address #ClimateChange & #refugee issues, as well as #democracy & #HumanRights concerns.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/us/politics/trump-state-department-overhaul.html?smid=url-share
Some of the proposed changes outlined in the document would require congressional notification & no doubt be challenged by lawmakers, including mass closures of diplomatic missions & headquarters bureaus, as well as an overhaul of the diplomatic corps. Substantial parts of it, if officials tried to enact them, would likely face lawsuits.
Major structural changes to #State would be accompanied by #layoffs of both career #diplomats, known as foreign service officers, & #CivilService employees, who usually work in the dept’s HQ in DC…. The dept would begin putting large numbers of workers on paid leave & sending out notices of termination….
The draft #Trump EO calls for ending the foreign service exam for aspiring diplomats, & it lays out new criteria for hiring, including “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.”
The draft says the department must greatly expand its use of #ArtificialIntelligence to help draft documents, & to undertake “policy development & review” & “operational planning.”
The proposed reorganization would get rid of regional bureaus that help make & enact policy in large parts of the globe.
Instead, the draft says, those functions would fall under 4 “corps”: Eurasia Corps, consisting of Europe, Russia & Central Asia; Mid-East Corps, consisting of Arab nations, Iran, Pakistan & Afghanistan; Latin America Corps, consisting of Central America, South America & the Caribbean; & Indo-Pacific Corps, consisting of East Asia, Southeast Asia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan & the Maldives.
One of the most drastic proposed changes would be eliminating the bureau of African affairs, which oversees policy in sub-Saharan #Africa. It would be replaced by a much smaller special envoy office for African affairs that would report to the White House National Security Council. The office would focus on a handful of issues, including “coordinated counterterrorism operations” & “strategic extraction & #trade of critical #NaturalResources.”
The department would eliminate a bureau overseeing #democracy & #HumanRights issues; one that handles #refugees & #migration; & another that works with international organizations. The under secretary position overseeing the first two bureaus would be cut. So would the office of the under secretary of public #diplomacy & public affairs.
The department would also get rid of the position of the special envoy for #climate.
The Bureau for #Humanitarian Assistance would absorb the remnants of the #USAID, which has been gutted over the last two months by #MarcoRubio & other members of the #Trump admin.
As for personnel, the memo said, the department needs to move from its “current outdated & disorganized generalist global rotation model to a smarter, strategic, regionally specialized career service framework to maximize expertise.”
