State Department plans deeper-than-anticipated staff cuts

The State Department aims to cut some 3,400 employees beginning in early June, substantially more than generally expected, according to the agency’s briefings to lawmakers and employees with knowledge of the matter.

That's because the 700 jobs that will be cut in a departmental reorganization will not count toward the planned 15-percent reduction in the department's roughly 17,000-person domestic workforce, and because foreign service officers whose jobs are eliminated are not expected to be permitted to apply for other roles.