State Department, Trump
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More than 1,300 employees were forced out of the State Department on Friday, taking with them decades of specialized skills and on-the-job training.
The involuntary staff reductions include 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service employees, according to a notice sent to employees Friday morning.
The State Department began firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine U.S. ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad.
Donald Trump likes to say he’s about America first. What we’re witnessing here is America in retreat,” Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen told HuffPost at a rally for 1,353 dismissed diplomats.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists he is streamlining a bloated department, but critics warn the cost to America’s standing and influence could be high.