Image Credit: Anadolu / Contributor / Getty Images 
Almost 1,500 State Department workers were laid off on Friday as the Trump administration begins a radical overhaul of the nation’s diplomatic corps.
The layoffs led to 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers losing their jobs.
Dozens of State Department employees lined the lobby of the agency’s headquarters in Washington to applaud their colleagues as they left.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who made headlines when he flew to El Salvador to visit deported “Maryland Man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, attended a demonstration outside the building.
“The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said.
“Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found.”
When the restructuring is complete, the State Department’s workforce of 18,000 will be reduced by around 3,000 workers, including many who have taken voluntary redundancy.
The shake-up is intended to reduce waste and also to “clean out the deep state” by firing bureaucrats who are deemed to be disloyal to President Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans for the shake-up in April, saying the Department in its current form was “bloated, bureaucratic” and unable to perform its mission “in this new era of great power competition.”
According to the new plan, power would be devolved to regional bureaus and embassies, and programs would be cut that did not align with the Trump administrations new policies and priorities.
A deadline for the shake-up of 1 July was original envisaged, but legal challenges have caused significant setbacks.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration could continue its sweeping cuts to agencies.
