State Department layoffs deal “blow” to US cultural exchange 

Included in the 1,300 redundancies were roughly 40 employees of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which heads up the country’s educational and cultural exchange programs.  

Combined with the 50 ECA staff members who already took voluntary departure earlier this year, the losses amount to nearly 20% of the Bureau, with stakeholders warning of grave damage to global partnerships which underscore international cultural exchange.

“Diplomacy and exchanges don’t just build people-to-people relationships – they depend on them,” executive director at Alliance for International Exchange Mark Overmann told The PIE News. 

“The loss of so many dedicated State and ECA colleagues last week is a real blow to our community and our ability to build people-to-people relationships,” he said, adding: “working to make America safer and stronger just got that much harder.” 

State Department employees were notified of the layoffs on Friday July 11, comprising of 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service employees with domestic assignments. 

The reduction in force (RIF) followed a Supreme Court ruling earlier last week lifting the temporary court injunction against mass firings of federal staff.  

The loss of members in the diplomatic workforce will absolutely affect the education abroad community’s ability to grow, thrive and keep students safe

Melissa Torres, Forum on Education Abroad

Overall, about 15% of the workforce is estimated to have been laid off, as the department undergoes an “historic reorganisation” to align with the “America First” foreign policy priorities announced by Secretary Rubio on April 22, according to the department. 

The firing process has been mired in confusion, with the lifting of the temporary court order creating chaos, and reports of emails delivered to staff at different times due to limitations of federal systems.  

According to internal communications seen by The PIE, ECA senior bureau official Darren Beattie assured all ECA and public diplomacy staff on July 14 that there were “no plans” to conduct any additional domestic RIFs.

A source close to the situation told The PIE that the full ECA policy office had been slashed, and half of both the Office of International Visitors (OIV) and the Speakers Program Office.  

They added that roughly 50 staff had already left ECA during the voluntary departures earlier this year, resulting in a total loss of about 18% for the bureau that runs educational and cultural exchanges. 

Overall department losses including departures earlier this year total approximately 3,000, with the stated aim of restoring the department to “results-driven diplomacy” powered primarily by overseas posts and Washington regional bureaus, a State Department spokesperson told The PIE. 

While the spokesperson maintained that security functions, consular services and regional desk responsibilities remain “fully operational”, colleagues in government and across higher education have warned of the damage to America’s national security and soft power.  

“The loss of members in the diplomatic workforce will absolutely affect the education abroad community’s ability to grow, thrive and keep students safe,” Melissa Torres, president of the Forum on Education Abroad, told The PIE.  

While it remains to be seen whether the layoffs will have a direct impact on programs such as the Fulbright and Gilman scholarships, Torres emphasised the importance of strong global partnerships and nuanced cultural understanding that will be damaged by the cuts.  

“To set the foundation that enables those relations, you need skilled diplomats to offer strategic direction and guidance,” she said, adding that students and the country would “suffer” as these “career-defining” opportunities are threatened.  

The American Foreign Service Association has said it “strongly opposed” the decision “in the strongest terms”, calling the cuts a “catastrophic blow” to US national interests. 

“In less than six months, the US has shed at least 20% of its diplomatic workforce through shuttering of institutions and forced resignations,” it said in a statement on July 11, advocating for the importance of non-partisan diplomacy.  

Democratic senators have argued that the administration “must invest in our diplomatic corps and national security experts – not erode the institutions that protect our interests, promote US values and keep Americans abroad safe”, they said in a statement.  

“As the US retreats, our adversaries – like the People’s Republic of China – are expanding their diplomatic reach, making Americans less safe and less prosperous,” they continued, claiming the “blanket and indiscriminate” cuts were a legacy of “Elon Musk’s failed DOGE efforts”.

For its part, the State Department has maintained the reorganisation will “better align [its] workforce activities and programs with the America First foreign policy priorities”.  

The cuts come at a time of heightened demand on the State Department, which absorbed 20% of programs from the recently dismantled Agency for International Development (USAID) this July.  

As stakeholders wait for the President’s upcoming FY2026 budget, study abroad colleagues welcomed a new Appropriations bill passed this week proposing a 22% cut to the State Department’s budget rather than the dire 93% cut initially requested by the president.  

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