Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a big statement on Tuesday regarding the State Department and the Donald Trump president’s” America First” plan. It’s being called the biggest revamp at State in years.
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Now is the day. Under @POTUS’ authority and at my way, we are reversing decades of fat and government at the State Department.
These striking changes will enable our gifted diplomats to set America and Americans first. photograph. tweets. com/CGWz3JrYwu
— Secretary Marco Rubio ( @SecRubio ) April 22, 2025
” Now is the day,” Rubio began in a blog on X, adding,” Under @POTUS’ authority and at my way, we are reversing years of fat and government at the State Department. These striking changes will enable our gifted diplomats to set America and Americans first. ”
The post included an official statement from the State Department, which reads (emphasis me ):
We are facing huge challenges across the globe. To give on President Trump’s America First foreign plan, we must create the State Department Great Again.
In its present form, the Department is bloated, administrative, and unable to do its vital diplomatic mission in this new era of great authority competition. Over the past 15 decades, the Department’s footprints has had unparalleled growth and prices have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, payers have seen less effective and efficient politics. The sprawling government created a program more beholden to radical social philosophy than advancing America’s main national interests.
That is why now I am announcing a thorough reform program that will bring the Department into the 21st Century. This strategy will enable the Department from the ground upward, from the departments to the offices. Region-specific features may be consolidated to improve efficiency, duplicate offices may be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s key national interests may cease to exist.
Under President Trump’s authority, we have a commander in chief committed to putting America and Americans second. As his Secretary of State, I am convinced a secular State Department will match the time and enable make our country excellent once again.
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But what exactly does a” complete reform” of the State Department look like? According to The Free Press, which Rubio says has the “real special,” — by the way, how do we get one of those specials here at PJ Media? — inside documents show that the Department” may close 132 agency offices, including those launched to more human rights, advance democracy outside, store extremism, and prevent war crimes. ” That’s a 17 % reduction to start.
Additionally,” under secretaries at the State Department are also being instructed within 30 days to present plans to reduce their U. S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent,” including” six top offices employing thousands of people. ”
SCOOP: The Trump administration is launching the biggest shake-up at the State Department in decades , @TheFP has learned.
▶ ️ Closing 132 offices
▶️ Undersecretaries to reduce personnel by 15 %
▶️Moving 137 offices
+More pic. twitter. com/krPa8pnddw— Gabe Kaminsky ( @gekaminsky ) April 22, 2025
Rubio also wrote about the shakeup in what appears to be a new Substack for the State Department, stating that” The Department has long struggled to perform basic diplomatic functions, even as both its size and cost to the American taxpayer has [sic ] ballooned over the past fifteen years. The problem is not a lack of money, or even dedicated talent, but rather a system where everything takes too much time, costs too much money, involves too many individuals, and all too often ends up failing the American people. ”
Related : A HUGE Win for Free Speech: Rubio Shuts Down Controversial State Department Office
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He also expanded on a topic I covered last week, the shuttering of the Global Engagement Center — an office that censored U. S. citizens — citing it as just one of many reasons why this overhaul is necessary.
An example of an out-of-control Department is the Global Engagement Center ( GEC ) that I shuttered last week. The office engaged with media outlets and platforms to censor speech it disagreed with, including that of the President of the United States, who its director in 2019 accused of employing’the same techniques of disinformation as the Russians. ‘ Despite Congress voting to shutter it, the GEC simply renamed itself and continued operating as if nothing had changed.
Unless we confront the underlying bureaucratic culture that prevents the State Department from carrying out an effective foreign policy, while allowing offices like GEC to flourish in the shadows, nothing will change. That is why I am initiating a broad reorganization of the Department to address the steady growth of bureaucracy, duplication of functions, and capture by special interests that have crippled American Foreign Policy.
Rumors surrounding a major overhaul have been circling for a while, though no one knew exactly what that included. As it does, the New York Times reported on Sunday that plans for the reorganization would “eliminate Africa operations and shut down bureaus working on democracy, human rights and refugee issues. ” Rubio called this information “fake news. ” The Free Press also says that the official” Sensitive But Unclassified” documents it viewed made no mention of any of this.
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If you’ve paid any attention at all, the Times and other legacy media outlets have been desperately trying to paint Trump, Rubio, etc. , as these uncaring jerks who are running around cutting humanitarian aid and starving all the poor children in Africa. That’s simply not true. Instead, they’re righting the wrongs of previous administrations and bureaucrats who have turned programs falsely labeled with names like’humanitarian aid” and” spreading democracy” into a way to spread their leftist agenda and/or put money in their own pockets.
Recommended : Rubio Exposes Leftist Agenda and Corruption of USAID Programs
Here’s another example from Rubio’s Substack post :
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against “anti-woke” leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes. The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to international organizations and NGOs that facilitated mass migration around the world, including the invasion on our southern border.
Another office that Rubio is reportedly shutting down is the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations ( CSO ). According to the Free Press,” The CSO was established in 2011 to help anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflicts that may threaten U. S. national security, according to a press release upon its launch. ”
However, a senior official at the State Department told the news outlet that” Nobody is really sure what they do. ” That person added,” When I ask them, they seem to not really be sure what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s an office that was created several years ago to look at Afghanistan [issues] and to avoid conflict areas. But we already have other offices within the department that do that. ”
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I have a feeling that’s the case for many federal government offices. It’ll be interesting to watch Rubio and his team tackle this bloated bureaucracy at the State Department. It sounds like it’s something that is long overdue — much like most of what the Trump administration has done over the last three months.
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