The State Division is rolling out a recruitment marketing campaign to hitch the International Service, regardless of finishing up widespread layoffs final 12 months and plans subsequent 12 months to maintain shrinking its workforce.
Final summer time, the State Division despatched layoff notices to just about 1,350 staff — together with about 250 International Service officers who have been quickly serving in home posts. Whereas impacted civil service staff have been formally separated from the State Division, International Service officers who obtained reduction-in-force notices have been on paid administrative depart for 9 months.
A senior official informed Home lawmakers final month that the State Division has no plans to reinstate them.
“Be the face of America, wherever America needs you,” the State Division stated in a promotional video posted on social media final week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a weblog publish on Monday that the division is “building a diplomatic corps that leverages American power to get results for our country anywhere in the world.”
“Our present moment requires a foreign policy that makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous, bolstered by an elite diplomatic corps united in a shared mission,” Rubio wrote. “Under President Trump, this mission is clear: to put America first.”
The International Service usually recruits latest graduates and early-career professionals. Final week, the Workplace of Personnel Administration expanded a governmentwide push to get youthful people to hitch the federal workforce. It’s not clear what number of International Service officers the State Division is seeking to rent. A State Division spokesperson declined to remark.
In line with the American International Service Affiliation, the State Division employed about 100 International Service officers final September and about 160 International Service officers in January 2026.
A International Service officer who obtained a RIF discover final summer time, however who has not but been formally separated from the company, informed Federal Information Community that “it is quite a slap in the face” that the State Division is recruiting with out strolling again any of its International Service layoffs.
The State Division sought to finalize its International Service RIFs final December, however a federal decide in San Francisco put these plans on maintain. Congress gave businesses a three-month reprieve from layoffs, as a part of a stopgap funding invoice that ended final 12 months’s 43-day authorities shutdown.
Most businesses rescinded the RIF notices they despatched throughout final 12 months’s shutdown. However a federal district court docket decide dominated in January that the State Division didn’t must rescind its RIF notices, after she decided that these layoffs fell outdoors the layoff protections supplied by Congress.
International Service officers who obtained RIF notices have been on paid administrative depart for 9 months.
“We have literally no idea what the plan is. They won’t tell us anything. With no [continuing resolution] currently in place, RIF prohibition is currently not in effect, so I am not sure what the holdup is to either separate or reinstate us,” the laid-off International Service officer stated. “The lack of communication, purpose, and not being able to properly plan your life is maddening.”
AFSA President John Dinkelman, one other International Service officer who obtained a layoff discover final 12 months and remains to be on paid administrative depart, stated “there is no sign that we will be separated anytime soon.”
Regardless of the State Division’s recruiting push, the International Service doesn’t plan on hiring above its charge of attrition. The division’s fiscal 2027 price range justification exhibits that it plans to maintain shrinking its workforce. In line with the price range doc, the State Division plans to have about 11,000 International Service staff and 6,000 civil service staff subsequent 12 months.
The division stated its FY 2027 price range request “reflects a net decline from the FY 2025 year-end baseline,” following layoffs, a serious company reorganization and staff who took voluntary separation incentives.
Earlier than the Trump administration, the State Division had greater than 14,000 International Service staff and almost 13,00 civil service staff.
Upcoming modifications to federal worker assessments could push out extra International Service officers. Underneath Secretary for Administration Jason Evans informed the Home International Affairs Committee final month that the International Service will resume “low-ranking” staff, a course of wherein personnel who don’t meet sure efficiency analysis standards are advisable for removing.
Final month, the Workplace of Personnel Administration launched a proposed rule that will restrict what number of federal staff can obtain the very best rating on their annual opinions. In gentle of this proposed rule, Evans stated the State Division is getting ready to supply fewer high rankings to International Service officers throughout annual efficiency evaluations, and that supervisors will face penalties if they provide too many excessive scores to staff.
Dinkelman stated the International Service could have a more durable time discovering new recruits. He stated final 12 months’s widespread layoffs introduced profession stability into query. Dinkelman additionally expressed concern that the State Division didn’t evacuate non-emergency personnel from posts within the Center East earlier than the U.S. started navy strikes in Iran.
“What I’m seeing is the first time ever the organization has proactively decided to disregard the safety of its employees and their families,” Dinkelman stated.
The USA evacuated diplomats throughout the Center East and shut down some embassies following the preliminary strikes in Iran. ABC Information reported that the State Division evacuated about 4,000 of its personal personnel and greater than 50,000 U.S. non-public residents from the Center East within the preliminary weeks of the struggle.
Final 12 months, the State Division overhauled the doorway examination for International Service candidates and required potential hires to retake the brand new model. Rubio wrote that the State Division has “removed DEI excesses from Foreign Service hiring” and refocused its entrance exams to “better measure intellect and relevant knowledge.”
Dinkelman stated the division is “criticizing the way in which things used to be done, with very little added as to what these actual changes do to improve the overall quality or caliber of the Foreign Service.”
“They seem to imply that what they went through before was substandard somehow, that simply is not the case,” he stated.
As a part of its 2027 price range request, the State Division is requesting greater than $21 million to cowl the prices of 400 staff employed in 2025 to convey features from the now-shuttered U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) into the State Division.
The division can be asking for greater than $9 million for greater than 30 new positions “to implement administration priorities and the department’s recent reorganization.”
If you want to contact this reporter about latest modifications within the federal authorities, please e mail jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or attain out on Sign at jheckman.29
Copyright
© 2026 Federal Information Community. All rights reserved. This web site isn’t supposed for customers situated inside the European Financial Space.
