Friday was a sad day in the US State Department building in Washington, when its remaining employees embraced their departed colleagues, amid tears and applause that were not cut off over the corridors leading to the building’s exit.
The last day of the work of more than 1300 employees who were demobilized out of 2000 employees, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio promised to get rid of them, in order to “simplify slow decision -making operations sometimes”, and “focusing the ministry’s resources on policy priorities and getting rid of excessive jobs in order to provide better taxpayers” according to the email message received by the employees.
Displacement operations have caused criticism from current and former diplomats.
The echoes of the demobilization were echoed in the ministry’s building, where the security men spread on each floor, while the diplomats cried and embraced the corridors.
The employees were taken to the meeting halls to pack their luggage and deliver work materials. Other employees did not receive the hairstyles after raising posters on which he read “Thank you for your service” and “I have left your work an effect.”
Big mistake
The move comes within the framework of the continued implementation of the Trump administration plans to reduce the size of the government and limit; From what you described as “inflation” and inefficiency. However, ending the work of this number of external employees was a big mistake; Because it will weaken America’s position in the world, and restrict American soft power.
The separation operations included approximately 12 people at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which led to the office permanently closing after most of his employees left voluntarily after President Trump took office and his rapid movement to withdraw the United States from climate talks and international agreements.
It also included the closure of the office of the coordinator of the entire re -resettlement of Afghans.
Although diplomats were the most comprehensive of the demobilization operations of the jobs that Minister Rubio canceled in the Ministry’s comprehensive reorganization, which has been the widest in decades, including the Women’s Issues Office and the diversity and inclusion programs in the ministry.
However, it also included employees working in the files of a number of unstable countries after Syria, and senior officials responsible for chemical weapons and multilateral nuclear diplomacy issues.
The ministry sent the hairstyle notifications to 1100 external employees and 240 civil service employees. External service employees will be placed immediately on a paid administrative leave, and they will lose their jobs after 120 days after receiving the notice. While the separation period for most civil service employees is 60 days.
Rubio promised to reorganize
Rubio defended comprehensive reform as decisive to simplify decision -making operations.
He added that the ministry plans to reduce its American working power by more than 15 percent, or nearly 2000 employees, as part of a comprehensive reorganization process aimed at simplifying what it described as “the enlarged bureaucracy that suffocates innovation and offends the distribution of scarce resources.”
He accused some offices inside the ministry of following an “extreme political ideology.”
“All efforts were made to support our colleagues who leave.”
However, weeks of uncertainty about the expected layoffs negatively affected the ministry’s morale, as some employees felt the resentment and bitterness of plans to lay off the employees at a time when many were asked to work for additional hours to help American citizens seeking to flee the Middle East region during the Israel war with Iran.
Poisoning the motives
Although political officials and professional employees have acknowledged for years that the ministry could be less bound by the protocol and more efficient.
But they questioned the allegations of the Trump administration that it wanted to give priority to “employment on the basis of merit”, especially after the abolition of diversity programs, and that it promoted young political activists with no experience with right -wing tendencies to leadership positions.
One of the professional diplomats said: “The idea of employing them for the best and brightest competency is ridiculous. This was an unexpected gain for white youth, who are often average efficiency. ”
Democrats criticized the demobilization operations, as Democratic Senator Jane Shaheen and other Democrats in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a joint statement saying: “If this administration is serious in placing (America first), it must invest in our diplomatic baskets and national security experts, not to weaken institutions that protect our interests, enhance American values, and maintain the safety of Americans abroad.”
The US Foreign Service Association, the union, which represents the diplomats, stated that the Trump administration has dispensed at least 20 percent of its diplomatic workforce during the past six months by closing the forced offices and resignations.
“There were clear institutional mechanisms to address the problem of the excess employee, if this was the goal,” she added.
But these layoffs are not related to efficiency or task. It targets diplomats not because of their service or skills, but rather because of their workplace. This is not a reform. ”
The US Supreme Court, which is dominated by the conservatives, paved the way for the Trump administration to launch plans for collective hairstyles and reorganization in 19 agencies and a federal ministry, in light of the continued lawsuit.
The judges canceled an order issued by a lower court who had temporarily suspended plans to lay off thousands of federal employees, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because the administration did not consult first with Congress.
