Massive shakeup at the Department of State: What’s behind the historic layoffs

About 1,300 Department of State employees were laid off last week. Most of the mainstream media took a critical stance and even portrayed the issue as a potential national security risk. But the reality is that more employees does not always mean better results and particularly in the government, the enormous amount of bureaucracy often hinders the execution of fundamental tasks.

A senior State Department official assured that the intention behind this major reorganization is not only to reduce personnel but, above all, to increase efficiency in the department. This idea is fundamental to understand what is behind the massive layoffs, because the goal is not merely to cut state spending through staff reductions, but primarily to make the entity much more effective and easier to hold accountable

According to figures provided to Voz by a senior official at the institution, the Department as a whole has grown by approximately 25% since 2008 in terms of total staff. Those leading the staffing cuts argue that it's hard to claim such growth in recent years has delivered better results for the American people. In fact, they warn that in some cases, the opposite may be true.

"On some occasions, when questions were raised about a specific task, it wasn’t even clear who was responsible," said one of the officials overseeing the cuts. With the accelerated growth of staff over the last few years, offices and tasks were being duplicated, which even made it difficult for those at the top to identify who was in charge of particular issues.

With these staff cuts, the department, under the leadership of Secretary Marco Rubio, is seeking to better manage operations by eliminating redundant offices and duplicate positions. One of the team members in charge of these cuts also assured us that many employees are happy with the changes, as they translate into streamlining the approval process and reducing the bureaucracy that was hindering project execution.

In total, including the various staff reduction efforts, senior officials told Voz the department expects to reduce its permanent full-time Civil and Foreign Service workforce by more than 15% compared to the baseline as of May 4, 2025. That amounts to nearly 3,000 employees leaving as part of the reorganization.

However, contrary to alarming claims by some commentators, the Department assures that they ensure that functions related to security, consular services, and regional office responsibilities remain fully operational during and after the reorganization process. And fundamentally they insist that the cuts only affected certain non-essential, duplicative or redundant national offices and functions.

The Department of State further clarified that the staff cuts are part of a broader restructuring initiative led by Secretary Rubio, who emphasizes that every public servant has a duty to ensure that any program funded with taxpayer dollars serves the nation's best interests

Some commentators are quick to assume that staff cuts harm institutions and that more employees automatically lead to better outcomes. But anyone with experience in the business world understands that bureaucracy not only wastes money—it also slows down processes and undermines accountability.

It’s rare—and worth noting—when a government, or more specifically a politician, seeks to reduce the very power it holds. More often, the instinct is to expand their agencies and influence. This administration is breaking that pattern, with the Department of State leading a significant effort to cut bureaucracy and restructure an institution that, under many past administrations, was treated more like an NGO than a government entity tasked with serving the American people.