Rex Tillerson eyes cutting 2,300 State Department jobs

WASHINGTON — Officials say Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is proposing the elimination of 2,300 jobs as part of a large cut to the State Department’s budget for the next fiscal year.

Officials briefed on the proposal say the staff cuts would be accompanied by a reduction in hiring new diplomats and the possible consolidation of the State Department with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The trims would amount to about 3 percent of the department’s roughly 75,000-strong workforce.

The officials said Friday that Tillerson’s proposal responds to the Office of Management and Budget’s call to slash the State Department and USAID budgets by 31 percent with deep cuts to foreign aid programs.

Tillerson’s cut would be 26 percent.

Officials weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the proposal and requested anonymity.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during a trilateral meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida and Korean Foreign Minister Yun on Friday, April 28, 2017, at the United Nations.