State Department lays off 1300+ employees: Report

The State Department sent layoff notices to more than 1,100 civil servants and nearly 250 members of the foreign service on Friday, the Associated Press reported, citing an internal notice the outlet obtained.

“In connection with the departmental reorganization … the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice read. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities.”

Most employees will receive a 60-day separation period. The layoffs come as the administration moves to dramatically scale down the size of the federal government and in the wake of a Supreme Court opinion giving the green light to proceed with mass layoffs.

That case addressed a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that directed federal agencies to initiate layoffs.