Secretary of State Marco Rubio is eliminating his department’s main bureau focused on democracy and human rights as part of a reorganization of the agency\u2019s operations announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Rubio said the moves are aimed at reducing bloat at the State Department, consolidating operations and eliminating programs the administration sees as advancing a liberal agenda. Civil rights advocates say the programs are important to promoting U.S. values of freedom and democracy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cuts reportedly eliminate about 17 percent of the agency\u2019s total number of offices, with Rubio looking to further downsize the number of employees based in the U.S. by 15 percent, according to The New York Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The largest cut focused on the Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, which housed seven bureaus related to migration, democracy, religious freedom, criminal justice, drug trafficking and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was renamed the Office of the Coordinator for Foreign Assistance and Humanitarian Affairs, with two bureaus under its purview: an assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and religious freedom, and an assistant secretary for population refugees and migration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some other offices were moved under other bureaus. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement shifted under the responsibility of the Bureau of Arms Control and International Security.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Other apparent cuts included offices overseeing conflict stabilization and operations, global criminal justice, and monitoring and combating trafficking in persons.<\/p>\n State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said a bureau appearing to be removed from the agency\u2019s organization chart doesn\u2019t mean its operations will end.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially when we\u2019re talking about war crimes and things immediately that are moving on the ground, this is the kind of adjustment and reorganization that makes it better,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The reorganization marks the latest step by Rubio to remake the State Department as part of the Trump administration\u2019s larger efforts to downsize government agencies. The reorganization does not yet address America\u2019s presence overseas.<\/p>\n A draft executive order, first reported by The New York Times on Sunday, details a potentially sweeping reduction in U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an organizational roadmap for this department here, right in Washington, D.C., the arguments about what will occur in other countries, you’re talking about embassies and consulates, that’s not addressed here,\u201d Bruce told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n The reorganization follows the Trump administration\u2019s effective elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent branch of the State Department, with an estimated $40 billion budget focused largely on humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n Democrats and human rights advocates accuse the administration of the abdicating U.S. soft power on the global stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n USAID\u2019s elimination was largely handled by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which critics say took a sledgehammer approach with no concern for harm or consequences to America\u2019s security and relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n