Secretary of state Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping reorganisation of the state department, calling the government’s diplomatic agency “bloated, bureaucratic” and “beholden to radical political ideology”.

Rubio released the plan in the form of an organisational chart and a brief official statement, with few other details. The move is the latest by President Trump’s administration to downsize and reshape the government to a degree unseen in generations, which critics have called a shortsightedly blunt assault on the federal bureaucracy.

In the announcement, Rubio did not give more information on the ideology or ideas to which he objected, but the chart and a Substack post revealed some of his thinking. The most drastic change is the elimination of the office of the under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, which is charged with advancing American values around the world.

Some elements of that office, including a bureau for democracy and human rights and one for refugees, would be cut and folded into an office for foreign assistance and humanitarian aid, according to the reorganisation chart posted on the state department website.

The department released an internal fact sheet that provided more details on Rubio’s plan, including reducing the agency’s total number of offices from 734 to 602, or by 17 per cent. It also said that Rubio had instructed senior officials to deliver plans soon to reduce the number of US-based employees by 15 per cent.

The New York Times reported on Sunday on a draft document labelled an “executive order” that outlined plans for a drastic restructuring of the department, including cutting the entire office of the under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights and many other parts of the agency.

On a new state department account on Substack on Tuesday, Rubio wrote that the bureau for democracy, human rights and labor had become a “platform for Left-wing activists to wage vendettas” against conservative leaders — including those in Poland, Hungary and Brazil — and to try to promote an arms embargo against Israel.

Rubio accused the bureau for population, refugees and migration of sending millions of taxpayer dollars to non-government groups that had promoted mass migration, including “the invasion on our southern border”.

The language echoed Trump’s, and Rubio did not provide evidence for any of his assertions.

As a Republican senator from Florida, Rubio had been an ardent champion of promoting traditional American values abroad. But as secretary, he has hewed closely to Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Diplomats and civil service employees are bracing for internal announcements with more details of layoffs and other cuts.

New York Times News Service