The State Department instructed United States embassies around the world to start planning for staff reductions on Wednesday, sources told ABC News.
Senior embassy officials were asked to provide comprehensive lists of all employees and their employment status as part of the process, sources said, explaining that the request includes tenured, untenured and temporary duty assignments.
Embassies will be required to cut both American staff and employees hired from the location in which the embassy is based, sources added.
The U.S. Embassy, located in the Nine Elms district of London, was photographed on Feb. 8, 2024.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
The State Department communication went out shortly before President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday afternoon that compelled State Department staff to comply with his administration’s foreign policy goals.
Titled “ONE VOICE FOR AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS,” the order said that the secretary of state “must maintain an exceptional workforce of patriots” in order to effectively comply with foreign policy initiatives.
That includes the ability to “reform the Foreign Service,” the order continued, including revisions to staff and to collateral such as handbooks and manuals.
In the past two weeks, an overwhelming majority of U.S. Agency for International Development employees who were embedded in embassies have already been put on administrative leave.
This has led a number of ambassadors and chiefs of mission to register complaints with department leadership, saying they don’t have the staff needed to oversee the USAID programs that are still in operation, according to communications reviewed by ABC News.
The Trump administration has also already fired contractors who worked on key embassy functions, including diplomatic security, and it is considering further reductions that could include untenured Diplomatic Security Service direct hires, sources said.
