Amid the Florida Republican’s other troubles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved forward this week with a plan to reshape the department he leads, and as The New York Times reported, he’s making the kind of changes that the White House will like.
[Rubio’s plan] focused on changes to operations in Washington, but the cuts will affect the work of embassies and consulates overseas. … The most dramatic 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.
It’s worth emphasizing that this announcement was the first step, not the last, as part of a larger State Department restructuring — and as the Times’ report added, “closures of diplomatic missions and layoffs abroad are expected later, according to U.S. officials and earlier leaked memos.”
A companion analysis piece in the Times highlighted the consequences of Rubio’s approach: “Human rights, democracy, refugees, war crimes. Those are some of the key responsibilities of a State Department office that Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to shutter as part of a larger reorganization plan for his agency that he unveiled on Tuesday.”
Indeed, the stated goal of the under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights is to help countries “build more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies.”
Evidently, that’s no longer a leading priority for the current administration, or the former senator who used to champion these goals.
The analysis added that while some of the affected bureaus will be merged with other State Department offices, “bureaus slated for elimination include those focused on conflict, global criminal justice and combating antisemitism.”
Christopher Le Mon, who served as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the Biden administration, told the Times, “We absolutely need a serious bipartisan conversation about how to reorganize the State Department to better meet 21st-century challenges and threats. But this proposal isn’t that serious, and it’s disingenuous and ignorant to treat ‘efficiency’ as the only goal for reforms.” The development came a week after Rubio appeared to discourage international travelers from visiting the United States, which roughly coincided with bizarre comments the secretary made about Kilmar Abrego García. A week earlier, Rubio issued a memorandum arguing that the Trump administration has the authority to deport immigrants based on, among other things, their “expected beliefs.” All of this comes against a backdrop in which Rubio has, on multiple occasions, found that he’s not on the same page as the White House, amid multiple reports that Trump has largely sidelined his secretary of state, keeping him out of the decision-making process on matters of foreign policy. When Rubio was confirmed to the White House Cabinet, he received unanimous support. It’s hard not to wonder how many of the senators who supported him wish they could take back their vote.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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