66 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL in regions like Africa, where relationships are built on trust and continuity. I hope that as leaders in the department reflect on the impact of this RIF, they will recognize the depth of the talent and commitment we are losing—and the human cost of that loss. —State FSO Weapons Expertise—Gone When I received my RIF notice on July 11, I was a tenured Civil Service employee serving as a senior adviser on chemical and biological weapons issues and project manager for a portfolio of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation programs valued at more than $50 million. In addition to more than eight years of experience as a generalist project manager with the State Department, I also brought highly relevant subject matter expertise as a PhD physical scientist and maintained credentials, including contracting officer and grants officer representative certifications, to facilitate project implementation and oversight. The office holding my position will continue to exist in the restructured organization chart, as it was established by statute. The RIF actions of July 11, however, eliminated virtually all working-level federal positions in this office, thus severely limiting its capacity to expeditiously respond to unanticipated WMD-related crises and proliferation challenges that may threaten the safety of Americans at home and abroad. For example, the U.S. has and will likely continue to play a role in securing and verifiably eliminating remnants of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons program in Syria to bring greater stability to the region—which is a stated priority for the administration. And there are numerous other ongoing activities in the office that strongly align with the administration’s objectives to prevent designated terrorist organizations and Iran from gaining access to dual-use, WMD-enabling materials. While this particular office was targeted, otherwise equivalent offices in the same bureau (i.e., retained in the reorganized State Department) were entirely unaffected by the RIF, including tenured and probationary staff members, suggesting the department did not follow standard RIF procedures as part of this reorganization. —State foreign affairs officer Further Fracturing State’s Broken IT Systems I serve as a Foreign Service specialist and diplomatic technology officer in Washington, D.C. The State Department included my position in its reduction-in-force action on July 11. After 12 years abroad, I returned to Washington, D.C., in 2023 to take part in the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology’s Executive Development Program (EDP). Following graduation from the EDP in 2024, I accepted a two-year domestic assignment with the clear understanding that it was a “detailed” assignment to the Office of Application Design and Delivery (ADD). I have been serving in ADD in direct support of State’s enterprise platform optimization efforts, driving urgently needed reform of both its sprawling and duplicative IT infrastructure and its fragmented, siloed organizational structure. This role represented an opportunity for the department to realize a return on its investment in my professional development, while also allowing me to apply and expand the strategic leadership, executive decision-making, and communications skills I cultivated through the EDP. Over the past year, I have led efforts to modernize legacy systems, improve interoperability, and realign IT investments with the department’s objectives. In one initiative, I identified a plan to save tens of millions of dollars annually through platform consolidation and optimization of a major software platform. With the department’s decision to eliminate my position, however, this plan now faces indefinite delay—and may never move forward. In addition, I was given a 15 percent retention incentive based on my leadership, expertise, more than a decade of institutional knowledge, and skills as a graduate of EDP. Despite these qualifications, the department chose to eliminate the very employee it deemed critical enough to warrant a retention incentive. It is contradictory—and illogical—to simultaneously recognize the value of my skills with incentive pay while including me in a RIF. The department cannot reform its fractured IT footprint if it removes the personnel driving that transformation. —State FSS diplomatic technology officer Fired in the Middle of a Move I am an FS-2 Foreign Service officer with 15 years’ experience at the U.S. Department of State. On July 11, 2025, I was in the middle of my permanent change of station (PCS) move from a domestic assignment to my next overseas assignment, for which I was paneled on December 20, 2024. I received my travel orders on June 18 and airline tickets to post on June 26. I packed up my house, shipped our only car, terminated the lease on our home, and unenrolled my child from daycare at the end of June. My family, including two toddlers, moved into a hotel as we awaited my consultations in D.C. before heading out to post—just two weeks before the RIF.
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