State Department to axe 1,800 employees

The State Department will move to layoff nearly 2,000 employees on Friday as it begins its reorganization plan. 

An internal memo circulated Thursday evening by Michael Rigas, deputy secretary of management and resources, announced that domestic employees affected by the reduction in force (RIF) would be notified "over the coming days." 

Approximately 1,800 people will be affected, Fox News has learned. 

The RIF notices plus voluntary departures under the Trump administration amount to a 15% work force reduction. 

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"The departments, bureaus, offices and domestic operations have grown considerably over the last 25 years, and the resulting proliferation of bureaus and offices with unclear, overlapping or duplicative mandates have hobbled the department's ability to rapidly respond to emerging threats and crises or to effectively advance America's affirmative interests in the world," a senior State Department official said. 

The official added that there are "more than 700 domestic offices for 18,000 people." 

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"A lot of this, as we said, covers redundant offices and takes some of these cross-cutting functions and moves them to the regional bureaus and to our embassies overseas, to the people who are closest to where diplomacy is happening, to empower them with the resources and authorities they need to be able to carry out the President's foreign policy."

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce warned on Thursday the agency would move quickly after the Supreme Court stayed the lower court's injunction blocking the administration from implementing widescale force reductions across federal agencies. 

A senior official said there are currently no plans for overseas closures of embassies and outposts. They added the State Department will work to preserve the dignity of affected workers. 

"We’re going to work to preserve the dignity of federal workers," the official said. "We want to be sensitive to that process and make sure people have the resources they need … and make sure everyone is treated with dignity."