A project of executive decree of the Trump administration circulating between American diplomats proposes a radical restructuring of the American State Department, including drastic reductions to sub -Saharan operations, envoys and offices relating to climate, refugees, human rights, democracy and gender equality.
The changes, if they were promulgated, would be one of the largest reorganizations in the department since its foundation in 1789, according to Bloomberg, which had seen a copy of the 16 -page project, which reported the project for the first time.
Proposals also include the elimination of the Office of International Organizations, which liaises with the United Nations and a reduction in diplomatic operations in Canada. Overall, the project offers an important rejection of American commitment to a multilateral world order.
Under changes, the sprawling state service would be reorganized into four regional offices covering Indo-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Eurasia. But an unspecified number of “non -essential” embassies and consulates in sub -Saharan Africa would be closed.
The New York Times said that the proposal decree could be signed by Donald Trump this week and that changes would take effect by October 1.
The ordinance is designed to impose “a disciplined reorganization” of the State Department and “rationalize the delivery of mission” while reducing “waste, fraud and abuses”, the point of sale cited in the document.
The White House and the State Department did not comment on reports, but early Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the overhaul of “false news” in an article on X. “The nytimes are victims of another hoax”.
A high diplomatic official in Africa said that the information circulating within the State Department on the reforms of external services which should be announced would be less radical than those described in the document.
A poster on a Reddit page dedicated to the US external service said that it doubts that the changes would go to the order of the project. “I suspect that this is disclosed as a red herring designed to make us grateful for a more modest but still unpopular reorganization,” wrote a user. “It will be essentially immediately disputed and prohibited, then the” implementation “will be trained until Trump is elected.”
However, any radical reorganization of American foreign operations comes after the Trump administration has moved to fold the American agency for international development (USAID) in the State Department, reduced operations, and then restore some, including emergency food assistance programs.
The Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs “would assume any critical mission task previously exercised by the American Agency for International Development (USAID),” said the order.
The draft prescription disclosed on Sunday would eliminate the African Affairs Office, the Special Corner Envoy, the Office of International Organizations and the Women’s World Questions Office.
“Diplomatic relations with Canada are a considerably reduced delegated team as a North American Bureau (NAAO) business in the secretary’s office,” said the document. This includes a substantial reduction in the United States Embassy in the capital, Ottawa.
The upheaval would also see American diplomatic staff assigned to the regions for the duration of their careers rather than being deployed in rotations in the world. Fulbright scholarships to the State Department would be reformed as “only for the study at the level of control in disciplines related to national security” by emphasizing “critical” languages.
The scholarships associated with the University Historically Black Howard in Washington, would also be canceled as part of the administration’s efforts to end the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI).
“All positions and tasks must receive an explicit written approval from the President of the United States,” according to the ordinance, which also calls for the end of the external service examination for budding diplomats. The new hiring criteria, he said, understands “alignment with the vision of the president’s foreign policy”.
But order is not the only internal document circulating to propose changes to American diplomatic operations. Another offers a 50% reduction in the budget of the State Department, and a third calls for the reduction of the 10 embassies and 17 consulates.
The workforce of the American State Department includes 13,000 members of the external service, 11,000 public service employees and 45,000 local employees in more than 270 diplomatic missions worldwide, according to its website.
