Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a sweeping plan on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, to reorganize the U.S. State Department, including a 15% staff reduction in the United States and the consolidation of over 100 bureaus worldwide.
The move is part of President Donald Trump’s broader “America First” strategy, which aims to streamline federal agencies and reshape America’s role on the global stage.
A Leaner, Reimagined State Department
Rubio announced the plan through social media and in an email to department staff obtained by The Associated Press. In it, he stressed the need to modernize:
“We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources.”
According to the reorganization fact sheet:
- 734 bureaus and offices will be consolidated into 602.
- 137 offices will be relocated within the department to boost efficiency.
- A new office focused on foreign and humanitarian affairs will be created to manage the remaining foreign aid programs after the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Programs and Offices on the Chopping Block
Among the areas expected to be eliminated:
- The Office of Global Women’s Issues.
- Diversity and inclusion programs, continuing a government-wide rollback that began in January.
- Several offices under the Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
While some offices will disappear, Rubio’s team says much of their work will be absorbed by other sections of the department.
A Broader Government Reshaping
The State Department overhaul follows a series of dramatic cuts across the federal government:
- The White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed nearly a 50% budget cut to the State Department.
- Plans are also in the works to eliminate funding for international organizations like the United Nations and NATO headquarters.
Although these proposals are still in early stages and likely to face heavy scrutiny from Congress, they signal the Trump administration’s aggressive push to scale back American involvement abroad.
In addition to targeting USAID, the administration has moved to defund “soft power” institutions that support independent media abroad, such as:
- Voice of America
- Middle East Broadcasting Networks
- Radio Free Asia
- Radio/TV Martí (which broadcasts to Cuba)
These outlets, long seen as critical tools for delivering free information into authoritarian countries, have seen their futures thrown into uncertainty.
It remains unclear whether Rubio’s plan will be implemented through an executive order or another method. Early drafts of the reorganization suggested even more drastic cuts than the version made public this week.
Whatever the final details, it’s clear that under the Trump administration’s second term, the State Department — and U.S. foreign policy overall — is being fundamentally restructured to focus on leaner operations and prioritize direct American interests over global engagement.