The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday, an internal memo seen by CNN revealed on Friday.
As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government, at least 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers have had their positions terminated.
CNN reported that hundreds of offices and bureaus will shut down because of the firings.
“In connection with the Departmental reorganization first announced by the Secretary of State on April 22, 2025, the Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice said.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," the notice said. "Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found," it added.
Cuts come amid ceasefire talks in Gaza, Ukraine
The total reduction in the workforce will be around 3,000, including the voluntary departures, out of the 18,000 employees based in the United States, according to the notice and a senior State Department official.
Foreign service officers who will be given “Reduction in Force” notices will be placed on administrative leave for about three months before they formally lose their jobs. A majority of civil service employees will be on leave for 60 days before the firing takes effect.
Those who oppose the cuts say that they will come into effect while the Trump administration tries to broker peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza.
“There are horrible things that are happening in the world that require a tried-and-true diplomatic workforce that’s able to address that,” said American Foreign Service Association president Thomas Yazdgerdi.
“The ability to maintain a presence in the areas of the world that are incredibly important, dealing with issues like Ukraine, like Gaza, like Iran right now that require great diplomatic attention.”
The American Foreign Service Association is the union that represents foreign service workers. Yazdgerdi noted that before the Trump administration, the US diplomatic corps was stretched thin and “could not staff up appropriately our embassies overseas at a time when China, our biggest rivals, had no problem doing that.”
Yazdgerdi told CNN that he thinks that the firings will affect morale, recruitment, and function.
A senior state department official said that the government wants to handle the layoffs “in a manner that preserves, to the maximum extent possible, the dignity of federal employees and foreign service officers and civil servants who are affected by this.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the plans for the shake-up in April, saying the Department in its current form was "bloated, bureaucratic" and was not able to perform its mission "in this new era of great power competition."
He envisioned a structure that he said would give back the power to regional bureaus and embassies and get rid of programs and offices that do not align with America's core interests.
That vision would see the elimination of the role of top official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and the closure of some offices that monitored war crimes and conflicts around the world.
The reorganization had been expected to be largely concluded by July 1, but did not proceed as planned amid ongoing litigation, as the State Department waited for the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration's bid to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts.
Reuters contributed to this report.