The US State Department on Thursday notified Congress of plans for a major reorganisation that would cut thousands of jobs and focus the department on promoting “America's interests”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the department needed slimming down after decades of bureaucratic bloat that had brought spiralling costs with no gains for US citizens. Mr Rubio first announced the reorganisation in April, ordering officials to assess how many jobs would be cut in the closure of 132 bureaus and offices, and the merging of others.
“Since my first day as secretary, I have said that this department must move at the speed of relevancy and in April announced a broad reorganisation of the department to better achieve that goal,” Mr Rubio said in a statement. “The plan submitted to Congress … will result in a more agile department, better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world.”
Mr Rubio also posted a link to a Fox News story saying the department plans to merge or eliminate more than 300 offices and bureaus.
An executive summary of the proposal, seen by Reuters, said nearly 45 per cent of the department's domestic offices would be merged, eliminated, consolidated or streamlined in the reorganisation.
The department plans to cut thousands of US-based workers, reducing its civil service and foreign service domestic workforce by 3,448 people, according to the congressional notification, out of 18,780 people as of May 4.
Nearly 2,000 of those will be subjected to job cuts while more than 1,500 will be deferred resignations. No job cuts are planned for locally employed staff or US personnel posted overseas.
The State Department published a new organisation chart showing that a new undersecretary of state position would be created to oversee foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs, which will include much of the work previously done by the US Agency for International Development, which was eliminated by Elon Musk and the Department for Government Efficiency.
Senior Democratic senators Jeanne Shaheen and Gregory Meeks said the proposed cuts are too broad and would leave an opening for Russia and China to increase their diplomatic contact with other nations.
"We welcome reforms where needed, but they must be done with a scalpel, not a chainsaw," they said in a statement.
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Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
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A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
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2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
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That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
