US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a complete restructuring of the "bloated" staff of the diplomatic department he heads, reported DPA, quoted by BTA.
Rubio said that "redundant positions" will be eliminated and that programs that do not correspond to the country's core national interests will be cut.
"In its current form, the department is bloated, bureaucratic and incapable of fulfilling its core diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition," the secretary of state said in a statement.
CNN reported that this is the first phase of the restructuring of the State Department. The television station cited a senior official and documents, reporting that more than 130 internal departments and about 700 positions in Washington will be affected. Among the services that are reported to be closed are those that deal with war crimes and global conflicts.
The "Washington Post" reported that the plan calls for senior officials to propose how to reduce the number of employees in the United States by 15%. It is also reported that the project includes closing the entire "Africa" office and closing numerous representations on the continent, the American newspaper reports. Rubio, however, denied this.
Under the administration of US President Donald Trump, tens of thousands of employees in many ministries and agencies have already been laid off. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was disbanded, and its remnants were included in the State Department, DPA recalls.
The decision of the Donald Trump administration to reduce US development aid has forced the World Health Organization (WHO) to restructure, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
He told members of the organization that the WHO faces a salary gap for 2026-27 of 560-650 million. dollars.
"The sudden drop in revenue has left us with a huge shortfall in salaries and we have no choice but to scale back our work and our workforce," he said.
"The situation is urgent, but we also want to make sure we do this reduction properly to protect the organization's work now and in the long term."
Among the changes is the reduction of senior management positions from 12 to seven, and the number of departments will be reduced by almost half, from 76 to 34.
All regional offices will be affected to varying degrees, Ghebreyesus added.
"These are decisions we have taken after careful consideration, after exploring all options and because we have no other choice."
WHO will play its "crucial role in supporting countries to deal with this difficult period, mobilize domestic resources and maintain health services," he added.
After taking office in January, US President Donald Trump announced a freeze on most US spending on foreign aid. He also announced that the US would withdraw from the WHO.