Last Tuesday, the Trump administration abruptly separated more than 200 Foreign Service officers and 20 civil service employees – the latest round of cuts targeting diplomats and career federal workers at the State Department.
These cuts are particularly appalling because the department continues to hire new staff and contractors, even as it shoves dedicated and experienced employees out the door.
“The State Department is firing experienced AFGE members while hiring other people to do the exact same work. That is not reform. That is an end-run around the civil service protections this country put in place for a reason,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a press statement.
“These are dedicated public servants who spent their careers serving the American people, and AFGE is going to fight for them in court, in Congress, and at every level until every one of them is made whole.”
AFGE Local 1543, which currently represents more than 6,500 civil service employees at the department, says laying off career staff only to replace them with newly hired workers demonstrates that the Trump administration is not committed to a merit-based federal workforce.
“The career civil and foreign service at the State Department is the foundation of American diplomacy, with irreplaceable expertise and institutional knowledge,” AFGE Local 1543 President Mike Henning said. “On top of the 1,350 civil service separated in 2025, the department is again losing dedicated national security experts with decades of experience protecting American interests abroad.
“AFGE Local 1534 will continue to pursue every opportunity to fight for the reinstatement of the civil servants laid off due to last year’s disastrous reorganization at the Department of State, including more than 20 of our members who were separated Tuesday,” Henning said.
Among the 200 Foreign Service officers who were separated last week include crisis responders and specialists with rare language skills and decades of institutional knowledge – experienced staff who are being terminated even as the United States is engaged in an active conflict with Iran, the American Foreign Service Association said.
“AFSA strongly opposes these separations. We opposed them at the outset, and what we have seen unfold inside and outside the department over the past 10 months has only deepened our concern. The department has never adequately explained why it is removing experienced Foreign Service professionals with critical skills while simultaneously hiring new personnel. This is not sound workforce planning. It is a disruption to the career diplomatic corps at a moment when the country can least afford it.”
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Last Tuesday, the Trump administration abruptly separated more than 200 Foreign Service officers and 20 civil service employees – the latest round of cuts targeting diplomats and career federal workers at the State Department.
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