The U.S. Department of State sign in Washington, D.C.

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The State Department is cutting its Washington-based staff by about 15% in what officials are calling the largest overhaul of the agency in decades. Some employees have already taken early retirement, while hundreds more received layoff notices Friday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading the overhaul, eliminating 132 offices he’s described as part of a “bloated bureaucracy.” His staff rewrote key personnel rules to allow the department to fire foreign service and civil service officials in roles now being phased out.

Rubio has defended the move as essential to speeding up internal processes, citing the layers of bureaucracy that slow decision-making. “There were 40 boxes on this piece of paper,” he told senators in May. “That means 40 people had to check off ‘yes’ before it even got to me. That’s ridiculous. And if any one of those boxes didn’t get checked, the memo didn’t move. That can’t continue.”

Ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a statement condemning the cuts, saying “If this administration is serious about putting ‘America First,’ it must invest in our diplomatic corps and national security experts — not erode the institutions that protect our interests, promote U.S. values, and keep Americans safe abroad.”

Former diplomats are also sounding the alarm. The American Academy of Diplomacy, which represents former ambassadors, who advocate for U.S. diplomacy, accused Rubio of gutting the department’s institutional knowledge and called the move “an act of vandalism.”

“This isn’t just about trimming fat,” said Thomas Shannon, a former undersecretary of state in the previous Trump administration. “We’re removing a significant chunk of our civil service and foreign service employees and restructuring in ways that reflect a diminished global agenda.”

Shannon warns the shake-up could have long-term consequences — especially as the U.S. scales back on human rights and democracy promotion. He also pointed to the closure of USAID and the loss of experts with critical language and cultural skills as blows to U.S. influence abroad.

“We’re going to end up cutting a lot of really talented individuals,” he said. “They’ll be like players in a game of musical chairs — suddenly finding themselves without a seat.”

While the impact may not be felt immediately, Shannon said the move could leave the U.S. lagging behind rivals like China in the global arena.