The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the organization that represents personnel in the State Department and other international affairs agencies, issued a statement on 11 July 2025 titled "AFSA Strongly Opposes State Department Reductions in Force."
The statement appeared before more than 1,300 civil service and foreign service personnel at the U.S. Department of State learned today that they are being dismissed. These dismissals follow a 20 percent reduction in personnel because of the dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development and earlier forced resignations.
Comment: This is a sad day for civil service and foreign service personnel in the State Department. While it has been done in the name of "reform," it has nothing to do with reform. It is little more than part of a much larger effort to shrink the U.S. government in the mistaken view that it can do more with less. The American public can judge the results in the years to come.
There are legitimate reasons to periodically change foreign policy priorities, eliminate functions, and add them. But the reduction in force used in this "reform" does not appear to follow any coherent effort to take into account the skills and expertise of those being dismissed or the growing challenges that confront American foreign policy.
