Department Press Briefing
\nTammy Bruce, Department Spokesperson
\nWashington, D.C.
\nMarch 28, 2025<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>
[Excerpted \u2026]\n<\/p>\n
As the Office of the Secretary also announced today, the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, have notified Congress on their intent to undertake a reorganization that would involve realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1st, 2025, and discontinuing the remaining USAID functions that do not align with the administrative \u2013 administration priorities, I should say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In the words of Secretary Rubio in his statement: \u201cForeign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies. Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high. Thanks to President Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over.\u201d We are relenting \u2013 \u201cWe are reorienting,\u201d I should say, \u201cour foreign assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United States and our citizens. We are continuing essential lifesaving programs and making strategic investments that strengthen our partners and our own country. This is yet another promise made and delivered to the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks. Just staying on USAID, or USAID.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Sure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0Today USAID Foreign Service officers received a reduction in force notice, the ones \u2013 this is hundreds of officers who are based abroad for USAID. Can you confirm that all Foreign Service officers\u2019 positions will be terminated now and that they will all be coming home? And do you have or will there be transparency on how much it\u2019s going to cost to bring home hundreds of USAID Foreign Service officers home, including their families, those, as you know, that have been based abroad and have their whole lives integrated into different countries abroad? Some of them have been working abroad for many, many years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. The Secretary has mentioned throughout this process \u2013 I\u2019ve mentioned to you \u2013 that with any major change, there\u2019s going to be disruption. This particular review and project to assess the nature of waste and fraud and abuse, and whether or not these programs and the grants align with America\u2019s priorities, has been public news, worldwide news. We\u2019ve discussed it openly. We\u2019ve seen what\u2019s happened. And so it\u2019s something that I think most people, we\u2019ve been waiting for this conclusion. It has arrived.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I can\u2019t speak to the number of people who will not be a Foreign Service officer at this point. I can\u2019t say if it\u2019s going to be every single one. It is \u2013 there\u2019ll be a point where I don\u2019t have to speak about fluid situations and things that are changing and moving every day. But of course this is part \u2013 it\u2019s a restructuring, essentially. And there\u2019s going to be \u2013 from one statement made, there\u2019ll be from USAID and \u2013 a statement about the last mission, if you will \u2013 is that like any restructuring, there will inevitably be disruptions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n From Secretary Rubio down, we are committed to ensuring that USAID personnel remain safe, and that the agency\u2019s ongoing lifesaving aid programs remain both intact and operational. And it\u2019s something that we\u2019re committed to. There are periods of time for blocks of individuals to come home and to be separated. But it\u2019s dynamic when you\u2019re looking at such a reorganization that\u2019s going to happen. We will, I\u2019m sure, with this being a public story, have more information every day, and when that\u2019s possible, as I seek it out I will bring it to you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0And just one on the RIF. Just \u2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Sure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0This note also said that employees will be separated from the Foreign Service effective from the 1st of July. Does that mean that they are not guaranteed an opportunity to apply for jobs inside the State Department?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, no, that\u2019s not true. There is \u2013 there will be jobs that then can be applied for by those who have been separated. I can\u2019t tell you how many of those will exist or even the structure of what that is, but there\u2019s been a very specific note that for the jobs that then are open, these individuals, or at least some of them, will be able to apply. So that will be part of it as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0The \u2013 a lot of the embassies that he\u2019s been visiting have also big USAID missions and local staff that are hired for them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0So in this reduction, are all the local staff also being hired \u2013 I mean fired \u2013 as you downsize USAID?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, the \u2013 yeah. The messages I\u2019ve seen and the guidance I\u2019ve received is about Foreign Service officers. So I can\u2019t speak to where foreign \u2013 where the staff, the local staff there, fits within that framework, but \u2013 so if they\u2019re not Foreign Service officers. But each mission is in a different dynamic. So I would \u2013 I can\u2019t speak to that at this point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0And one other question on another topic. The \u2013 Kari Lake is talking about firing about almost 700 journalists at VOA. For those who are visa holders and from countries that \u2013 where it might be dangerous for them to return \u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 what\u2019s the State Department doing, like, to give them time to apply for asylum, or what kind of programs are in place to help people, like, in that position?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MS BRUCE:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. I mean, this is a recurring question, it\u2019s an important one, and it\u2019s good for people in this situation and other situations. The visa dynamic for people involved in this situation is no different than everyone else who has a visa \u2013 that if you\u2019re here on a work visa and your job ends, some people have gotten another job on that framework and have \u2013 and reapplied and have gotten visa for that new job. If you are \u2013 if that\u2019s not going to happen, of course, there\u2019s, like, a 30-day[2]<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0period of time for you to take action about going home, going to your home country or not. But then you would be here without a visa illegally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you are from a country and you cannot return because of fear of what will occur to you if returning to that country, you can apply for asylum. There\u2019s \u2013 this is true for everyone who holds a visa who loses that visa and is \u2013 would be \u2013 believes that they would be in trouble going back to their home country. That is an option and that is something that they can do as well if that\u2019s the case that they face. All right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MyPR International Press Releases<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Department Press Briefing Tammy Bruce, Department Spokesperson Washington, D.C. March 28, 2025 [Excerpted \u2026] As the Office of the Secretary also announced today, the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, have notified Congress on their intent to undertake a reorganization that would involve realigning certain USAID functions to the Department …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["type-post","category-news","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}