On April 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a dramatic plan to reorganize the Department of State – eliminating many bureaus and offices that support peace and justice globally.
Secretary Rubio began his announcement, entitled Building an America First State Department, proclaiming these reductions would “deliver on President Trump’s America First foreign policy,” and that “we must make the State Department Great Again.” Secretary Rubio promised that with this plan “programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist.” FCNL is deeply concerned about how these changes fail to reflect America’s core national values.
One of the planned changes includes eliminating many of the functions of the office of Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights whose mission is to lead the State Department’s “global diplomatic efforts to advance universal human rights, democratic renewal, and human-centered security, […] by assisting countries around the world to build more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies.”
The Under Secretary currently oversees nine bureaus and offices that support this work. These include the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations which works to support peace negotiations and mass atrocity, genocide, and conflict prevention, and the Office of Global Criminal Justice which supports war crimes accountability and transitional justice efforts.
According to Secretary Rubio’s plan, both these offices will be eliminated along with several others that are currently overseen by the Under Secretary, who will be renamed the Coordinator of Foreign Assistance and Human Rights. The Coordinator will oversee just two of the previous nine offices: the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Religious Freedom (previously titled Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor) and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Beyond the elimination of offices promoting human security and justice, reporting also indicates that Secretary Rubio’s plan eliminates the Special Representative for Nuclear Nonproliferation, a critical role at a time of heightened nuclear threats. Other noteworthy offices eliminated are the Office of Global Women’s Issues and the Diversity and Inclusion Office. This is in line with the Trump administration’s broader anti-DEI ideology and other cuts they have implemented across the federal government.
These reductions are diametrically opposed to the United States’ long held national values of supporting peace among nations and seeking justice for the oppressed.
In total, this will amount roughly to a 17% reduction in offices and a 15% reduction in staffing. While FCNL understands the need for periodic review and improvement in bureaucratic inefficiencies, it seems that under this plan, most of those inefficiencies have been found in areas related to mass atrocity and conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and justice. These reductions are diametrically opposed to the United States’ long held national values of supporting peace among nations and seeking justice for the oppressed.
While the United States has not always lived up to these values, it once again finds itself at an inflection point. Congress must seize the opportunity to help bend the arc of the moral universe once more. Congress must exert its power and influence as a co-equal branch to ensure that any reorganization of the State Department uplifts, rather than undercuts, peace and justice, and increases diplomatic tools at a time of increased militarism and global instability.
