The officials of the State State Department have developed plans to close a dozen consulates abroad by this summer and are taking into consideration the idea of closing many more missions, in what could be a serious blow for the efforts of the United States government to build partnerships and collect intelligence, say American officials.
The Department also plans to fire many local citizens who work for its hundreds of missions. Those workers constitute two thirds of the agency’s workforce and in many countries form the basis of the knowledge of their US diplomats environments.
The narrowing is part of both the widest cutting of the federal government of President Trump and its foreign policy “America First”, in which the United States end or reduce the important ways to exercise global influence, also through democracy, human rights and help work.
The moves arrive at a time when China, the main rival of America, has passed the United States in number of global diplomatic places. China has forged strong ties through nations, especially in Asia and Africa, and exercises greater power in international organizations.
Any wide arrest of the missions, in particular entire embassies, would hinder the work of most of the federal government and potentially compromise national security of the United States.
Official ambassadors of the army, intelligence, law enforcement, health, trade, treasure and other agencies houses, which monitor all developments in the host nation and work with local officials to counter everything, from terrorism to infectious diseases to collapsed currencies.
The prospect of large cuts has already generated some anxiety within the central intelligence agency. The vast majority of American intelligence officers under cover works for embassies and consulates, in laying as diplomats and the closure of diplomatic places would reduce the CIA options on where to place its spies.
The cuts come while the State Department is bleeding the senior staff members through voluntary resignation and a hiring freezing means that the workforce is being reduced through friction. A current course of five weeks mainly for Senior career diplomats, including ambassadors, who choose to retire have about 160 people, one of the largest cohorts of retired officers in recent memory, said an American official.
About 700 employees – 450 of their career diplomats – delivered their resignation in the first two months of this year, said the official. This is a surprising rate: before 2025, about 800 people had resigned for an entire year.
The efforts to cut diplomatic places and staff abroad are part of an internal campaign to reduce the budget of the operations of the State Department, perhaps up to 20 percent, according to two US officials with knowledge of the evolving discussions. Like others who spoke for this article, they discussed sensitive plans on the condition of anonymity.
The possible cuts and the related proposals could evolve while the internal debate continues.
The process was accelerated by a team led by Elon Musk, who has incorporated into government agencies in hunting for what calls the government’s waste. A team of the team, Edward Coristine, a 19 -year -old engineer who publicly brings “Big Balls”, is in the State Department, helping to direct the budget cuts at the agency. The budget of the Department and the numbers of employees are small compared to those of the Pentagon.
A note that circulates within the Department proposes to close a dozen consulates, mainly in western Europe, according to three US officials who have seen or informed on the memo. This action is taking place while Trump distances the United States from his democratic allies in Europe in favor of strengthening relations with Russia.
The 271 global diplomatic places in the United States are late compared to 274 from China, but the United States currently have an advantage in Europe, according to a study by the Lowy Institute.
The State Department notified two congress committees last month of the closures. And on Monday, the official’s officials told the committees that they also planned to close a consulate in Gaziantep, Turkey, which was a hub for US officials to work with the refugees of the nearby groups of Syrian and humanitarian aid there.
Those consulates are small operations, usually with one or two American diplomats and a staff of local citizens. But they help to collect and disseminate information in places away from capital and to issue visas.
In mid -February, the secretary of state Marco Rubio sent a note to Chief of Mission, who are usually ambassadors, telling them to ensure that the staff in places abroad was “maintained at the minimum necessary to implement the priorities of foreign policy of the president”. He also said that any position left vacant for two years should be abolished, said an American official who saw the memo.
A cable sent by Washington Wednesday to the global missions tells all employees to look for “waste, fraud and abuse”, the phrase that Musk uses to justify his profound cuts throughout the government. Officials are told to help with the mission of Mr. Musk by examining all the contracts that cost from $ 10,000 to $ 250,000, said the United States official, who saw the cable.
This could contribute to a cut proposed up to 20 percent of the operational budget of the State Department. The United States official said the phrase “across the board” was used, but it is not clear what it means. Under a proposal, the work of the closed embassies could be absorbed by another embassy in the same region or by a regional mission hub.
The plan to close a dozen consulates mainly in western Europe is more concrete. The officials of the State Department shared a list with the congress, even if it could still change. The list includes consulates in Florence, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Ponta Delgada, Portugal. It also includes a consulate in Brazil, according to an American official who saw the list. Some details of the predicted closings were previously reported by politician.
“The State Department continues to evaluate our global posture to ensure that we are better positioned to face modern challenges on behalf of the American people,” said the agency in a Thursday declaration when he was asked for the various proposed changes.
In his observations to employees on his first day at the Department, Rubio said he had evaluated the diplomatic body, but that “there will be changes”.
“Changes are not designed to be destructive; They are not designed to be punitive, “he said.” The changes will be because we must be a 21st century agency capable of moving, from a cliché that is used by many, at the speed of relevance. “
Since then, Rubio has supervised drastic cuts to foreign aid and has allowed Musk and Pete Morocco, a divisive political person in charge of shooting or placed on leave for thousands of employees of the United States Agency for international development, a twin agency of the State Department. This raised doubts among the diplomats on Rubio’s commitment.
The discomfort between diplomats is further fueled by the fact that they have not seen any sign that Mr. Rubio has tried to reject the efforts of Mr. Trump to weaken democratic Ukrainian and embrace Russia, which could report a wider acquiescence to the directives of the White House. The diplomats noticed a viral photo of Mr. Rubio crushed stone on a sofa in the oval office last Friday while Trump shouted in Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine.
The employees of the foreign and civil services of the State Department are preparing for the round of layoffs. The Department has about 76,000 employees, with 50,000 of those local citizens abroad. Moreover, about 14,000 are trained diplomats that rotate abroad, called foreign service officials and 10,000 are members of the civil service and work mainly from Washington.
The mission garments were asked to the Department’s officials to present a list in mid -February of the indispensable minimum number of local citizens whose mission operations should have maintained, said a United States official.
Diplomatics and public employees could be expelled through reduction orders in force, a mechanism that government agencies can use to fire workers. Another American official said these types of orders should take into account the performance of seniority and work.
In recent weeks, a list of 700 civil service workers who could potentially be fired within the department, but so far only 18 who were in trial have been let it go, said a United States official.
An attempt to cut workers has been placed for now. At the beginning of February, the Department issued orders to contracting companies to end the work of 60 contractors in the office of democracy, human rights and work. The companies put workers, who include technological and area specialists, on unpaid leave. But after internal discussions, the Bureau asked most of them or everyone to return this week.
The main officials are discussing to consolidate parts of the department. A proposal should declass, through a merger, the office for democracy and human rights, as well as on the offices that work on issues relating to migration and refugees and refugees. The office for foreign aid of the Department and the small remains of Usaid would have been put under the same umbrella.
The officials also proposed to merge some of the regional offices of the Department. These are managed by secretaries in Washington and supervise politics and operations in great bands of the globe. The offices are fundamental for American diplomacy.