\n<\/p>\n
Aaron Schwartz\/CNP\/Zuma<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Inside the State Department,<\/span> employees are packing up their belongings in anticipation of a reorganization and reduction in force that is expected to cut nearly 2,000 jobs. The significant cuts and reorientation of the department\u2019s mission will cripple the agency\u2019s work to promote democracy, combat human rights abuses, and negotiate conflict resolution.<\/p>\n Trump officials plan to attack \u201cunelected bureaucrats\u201d to defend cuts hitting human rights work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The proposed reorganization submitted<\/a> to Congress was supposed to be completed by July 1, but a federal lawsuit filed by labor unions blocked the proposed reorganization and reduction in force, or RIF, plans across 22 agencies. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court lifted<\/a> that injunction. While it did not rule on the legality of the reorganization plans at State or any other agency, it paved the way for massive cuts across the federal government to take effect. If Secretary of State Marco Rubio proceeds with the cuts and changes on Friday, as workers at the agency expect, it will be an immediate result of the Supreme Court\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n Those hardest hit will be employees at bureaus that focus on democracy, human rights, and conflict resolution, according to the agency\u2019s plans. For example, the administration plans deep cuts at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which supports pro-democracy civil society groups around the world, and then to use what is left of the bureau for rightwing ideological pursuits, such as the administration\u2019s allegations of free speech<\/a> abuses in Europe.<\/p>\n State Department employees say the changes will be devastating, particularly when coupled with the destruction of USAID and the billions of dollars in grants that are being shut off, both abroad and to United States based non-governmental organizations. \u201cFor those of us in the conflict prevention and stabilization space, those of us in the human rights space, and those of us in the mass atrocity prevention and accountability space,\u201d one State Department employee told Mother Jones, <\/em>\u201cit ends the entire industry in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Texts, screenshots, and rumors spreading through the State Department have prepared employees for what is coming\u2014and, after an official email Thursday confirming a RIF \u201cin the coming days,\u201d many believe it will come Friday. Around 9:30am, they expect an announcement that the reorganization plan has taken effect. This will be followed, employees believe, by RIF notices between 10am and 12pm. Around 3pm, employees expect to receive financial information such as whether they will first be put on administrative leave. Workers expect to lose access to internal systems and the building by the end of the day.<\/p>\n An employee at the Bureau for Conflict and Stabilization Operations expects their entire office to be eliminated tomorrow, in accordance with the reorganization plan. \u201cIn this administration, they\u2019re big on getting deals done and taking credit,\u201d said an employee in the bureau, who asked not to be named. \u201cYou have India-Pakistan, you have Gaza ceasefires, you have this Rwanda-DRC deal\u2014but it takes a lot more than just the high level handshake. There\u2019s a lot of work behind the scenes that has to be done to make sure these agreements are implemented and all that capacity is going away.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most dramatic hits is coming to DRL, which is currently overseeing 391 grants<\/a> totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, one employee told Mother Jones<\/em>. \u201cThey are RIFing all of us who actually understand what foreign assistance management at the State Department is,\u201d said a DRL employee, who asked for anonymity. As a result, they said, congressionally-mandated funding may fail to go out to human rights and civil society groups around the globe. As a result, this person expects lawsuits over the DRL cuts.<\/p>\n These funds helped Americans, says the DRL employee. As the \u201cbiggest donor of democracy and human rights assistance around the world for the last few years,\u201d this employee said, DRL helped create stable conditions for American businesses and nurtured pro-American sentiment\u2014things that help enable access to foreign markets and critical minerals. \u201cOnce we\u2019re gone, there is going to be a vacuum, and there are going to be malign actors that fill this vacuum,\u201d including China and local radical and terrorist groups.<\/p>\n Expecting criticism for effectively erasing the last of the government\u2019s democracy and human rights work abroad, the State Department drafted a \u201cpress guidance\u201d document dated July 7 on how to defend the plan and Rubio in particular. The document, obtained by Mother Jones<\/em>, cites broad goals of disempowering \u201cunelected bureaucrats\u2026pushing ideologically driven policies.\u201d Rather than actually defend the plan, the document provides talking points that attack Democrats and progressives, shifting the story away from the Trump administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n The document alleges that the Obama and Biden administrations used foreign assistance to push radical ideologies abroad. Biden, the press guidance alleges, used foreign aide to \u201cbully countries into accepting so-called transgender rights\u201d while ignoring \u201cthe wholesale slaughter of Christians.\u201d It calls Biden\u2019s proclamation of Easter Sunday of last year as Transgender Day of Remembrance \u201csickening.\u201d In fact, Biden scheduled<\/a> a Transgender Day of Visibility for every March 31 back in 2021, and in 2024 that happened to fall on Easter Sunday. Biden commemorated<\/a> Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20\u2014nowhere near Easter.<\/p>\n The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the guidance memo, or any pending cuts.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n