The State Department has asked senior officials at U.S. embassies worldwide to provide comprehensive lists of all employees and their employment status as part of a process of planned staff reductions.
The request includes tenured, untenured, and temporary duty assignments; and embassies will be required to cut American staff and employees hired from the location where the embassy is based, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
The directive was issued shortly before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon that compelled State Department staff to comply with his administration's foreign policy goals.
Included in the order was a section titled "Foreign Service Reform," which allows the secretary of State to "implement reforms in recruiting, performance, evaluation, and retention standards, and the programs of the Foreign Service Institute." It also covers revising or replacing the Foreign Affairs Manual and directs subordinate agencies "to remove, amend, or replace any handbooks, procedures, or guidance."
In the past two weeks, an overwhelming majority of U.S. Agency for International Development employees embedded in embassies have been put on administrative leave, according to ABC News. It has led to a number of ambassadors and chiefs of mission to register complaints with State Department leadership, saying they don't have the staff needed to oversee the USAID programs that are still in operation.
The Trump administration has also already fired contractors who worked on key embassy functions, including diplomatic security, and it is considering further reductions that could include untenured Diplomatic Security Service direct hires, sources told ABC News.
Newsmax reached out to the State Department for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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