US officials said that Foreign Ministry has made plans to close dozens of consulates abroad by this summer and consider closing many tasks, while it could be a blow to the efforts of the United States government to build partnerships and collect intelligence.
The administration also plans to remove many local citizens working for hundreds of missions. These workers make up two -thirds of the agency’s workforce, and in many countries they are the basis for the knowledge of US diplomats of their environments.
The shrinkage of both President Trump’s greatest reduction in the federal government and the “American Foreign Foreign Policy first”, as the United States ends or reduces important ways to practice global influence, including through Democracy, human rights and aid work.
The movements come at a time when China, the main competitor to America, comes, The United States has exceeded In a number of global diplomatic positions. China has formulated strong relations across countries, especially in Asia and Africa, and exercises greater power in international organizations.
Any widespread closure of missions, especially the entire embassies, will hinder the work of large parts of the federal government and may display American national security.
Embassies from the House of Representatives employees of the army, intelligence, law enforcement, health, trade, trade, treasury and other agencies, all of whom monitor developments in the host nation and work with local officials to confront everything from terrorism to infectious diseases to collapsed currencies.
The possibility of extensive discounts has already generated some concern within the CIA. The vast majority of secret American intelligence officers work outside embassies and consulates, as they are advancing as diplomats, and closing diplomatic positions would reduce the CIA options for the place of placement of spies.
The discounts come at a time when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs collects senior employees through voluntary resignations, and freezing employment means that the workforce is shrinking through attrition. An American official said the current five -week training course for professional diplomats, including ambassadors, who choose to retire about 160 people, is one of the largest group of retired officers in modern memory.
The official said that about 700 employees – 450 of them are professional diplomats – they handed the resignation papers in the first two months of this year. This is an amazing rate: before 2025, about 800 people resigned for a whole year.
The efforts made to reduce diplomatic positions and employees abroad are part of an internal campaign to reduce the budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and perhaps by up to 20 percent, according to two US officials with knowledge of advanced discussions. Like others who talked about this article, they discussed the sensitive plans of a state of not revealing their identity.
Possible cuts and relevant suggestions can develop with the continued internal debate.
This process was accelerated by a team led by Elon Musk, who merged itself into government agencies to search for what government waste calls. One member of the team, Edward CorestineThere is a 19 -year -old engineer who publicly passes “Big Balls”, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, helping to direct budgets in the agency. The department budget and employee numbers are small compared to the Pentagon budget.
A circulation inside the department proposes the closure of dozens of consulate, especially in Western Europe, according to three American officials who have seen or informed the memo. This procedure occurs as Mr. Trump runs the United States from its democratic allies in Europe in favor of strengthening relations with Russia.
Global diplomatic positions in the United States are 271 from China 274, but the United States currently has an advantage in Europe A study conducted by the Louis Institute.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed two congressional committees last month about the closure. On Monday, the administration officials told the committees that they were also intended to close a consulate in Jazianis, Türkiye, which was a center for American officials to work with refugees from the neighboring humanitarian relief groups there.
These consulates are small operations, usually with one or two American diplomats and local citizens. But they help collect information and publish it in places far from the capitals, and to issue visas.
In mid -February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to the heads of the mission, who are usually ambassadors, and asking them to ensure that employment in external jobs “has been kept to the minimum necessary to implement the president’s foreign priorities.” He also said that any positions that left a vacant for two years, said an American official, who saw the memo, said.
Kalb tells that he was sent from Washington on Wednesday to global missions to all employees to search for “waste, fraud and abuse”, a phrase that Mr. Musk uses to justify his deep discounts across the government. The US official, who saw the cable, said that officials were asking them to help in Mr. Musk’s mission by reviewing all contracts that cost between 10,000 to 250,000 dollars.
This can contribute to reducing up to 20 percent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The American official said that the phrase “in all areas” was used, but it is not clear what this means. Under one proposal, closed embassies can be absorbed by another embassy in the same area, or by a regional mission center.
A plan to close dozens of consulates mainly in Western Europe more realistic. Foreign Ministry officials shared a list with Congress, although he could still change. The list includes consulates in Florence, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Hamburg, Germany; Punta Deljada, Portugal. It also includes a consulate in Brazil, according to an American official, see the list. Some of the details of the planned closure were I mentioned earlier by politico.
The agency said in a statement on Thursday when asked about the various proposed changes: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to evaluate our global position to ensure that we are better to face modern challenges on behalf of the American people.”
In his remarks to employees on his first day in the department, Mr. Rubio said he appreciated the diplomatic element, but “there will be changes.”
“The changes are not intended to be devastating; he said,” They are not supposed to be punitive. “The changes will be because we need to be an agency in the twenty -first century that can move, through clichies that many use, quickly.”
Since then, Mr. Rubio supervised discounts in severe foreign aid and allowed Mr. Musk Maroco HouseHe is a divisive politician, to shoot or put it on the leave of thousands of employees of the United States Agency for International Development, a sister agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This raised doubts between diplomats about Mr. Rubio’s commitment.
This resurrection between diplomats is the fact that they have not seen any sign that Mr. Rubio tried to retreat against Mr. Trump’s efforts to weaken Democratic Ukraine and the embrace of Russia, which could refer to a The Lord is broader For the White House directives. Diplomats a Viral image Mr. Rubio has stones at the sofa in the Oval Office last Friday, where Mr. Trump shouted at Voludmir Zelinsky, President of Ukraine.
Foreign and civil services employees in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are preparing for tours of workers’ demobilization. In the administration, there are about 76,000 employees, with 50,000 of these local citizens abroad. Among the rest, about 14,000 trained diplomats revolving abroad, called on foreign service officers, and 10,000 civil service members and mostly work outside Washington.
A US official said that the mission chiefs asked senior administration officials to submit a list by mid -February from the minimum number of local citizens who will need to maintain mission operations.
Diplomats and civil service employees can be paid through the command of power reduction, a mechanism that government agencies can use to remove workers. Another US official said that these types of orders are supposed to take into account seniority and job performance.
In recent weeks, a US official said in recent weeks, a US official said in recent weeks, a US official said in recent weeks, a US official said in recent weeks, a US official said that the list of 700 civil service workers who are likely to be expelled inside the department, but so far it has not yet been left in 18 of those who have been in control.
One attempt to cut workers has been retracted at the present time. In early February, the administration issued orders for contracting companies to end the work of 60 contractors at the Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Companies, who include technology and specialists in the region, put on a non -paid vacation. But after internal discussions, the office asked most or all of them to return this week.
Senior officials discuss the unification of parts of the section. One of the proposals below, through integration, the Office of Democracy and Human Rights as well as offices that operate on CONTERNANACTOC issues and refugee and immigration issues. The Ministry of Foreign Aid Office of the Ministry and Small Resignments of the American Agency for International Development will be placed under the same umbrella.
Officials also suggested that some administration’s regional offices be integrated. It is managed by the auxiliary trustees in Washington and overseeing politics and operations across large areas of the world. The offices are essential in American diplomacy.
