State moves forward with foreign service officer layoffs in blow to civil service
Source: The Hill
The State Department on Tuesday officially terminated the employment of approximately 200 foreign service members as part of a reduction in force (RIF), part of more than 1,300 layoffs at the agency over the past year.
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Ryan Gliha, a career foreign service officer with more than two-decades of experience, was notified in July that he was being eliminated as part of a RIF, but he only received his official termination on Tuesday. The perfunctory email provided links to frequently asked questions and a note of gratitude for his service.
Gliha, a fluent Arabic speaker with Persian language skills, held a number of senior roles over his career including acting ambassador to Qatar and consul general in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He is fighting for reinstatement, describing his oath to the Constitution as overriding the feelings of sadness and betrayal from the layoff process.
“To be hit in the face with a short-sighted political decision run by the DOGE bros out there, saying the State Department needs to have less people, without any real understanding of what our mission is, is a real slap in the face to professional diplomats who have served this country with great honor,” he said.
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Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5864900-foreign-service-officers-fight-layoffs/
The article points out that while the State Department is getting rid of these experienced diplomats, it's also trying to recruit new staff "with advertisements leaning on nostalgia for an early 20th century American diplomatic corps and images that largely feature white men."
One of those laughably retro, stupid ads:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWl5vaGieL0/?l=1
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