Trump accelerates campaign to remake federal bureaucracy

WASHINGTON - US agencies under President Donald Trump pushed ahead on Jan 23 on his orders to reshape the federal bureaucracy, scrapping diversity programmes, rescinding job offers and sidelining more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials.

The Republican President has made little secret of his disdain for the sprawling 2.2 million-strong federal workforce and in particular for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, which promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people and other traditionally under-represented groups.

In a speech delivered via video on Jan 23 to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said his orders ending DEI programmes would make America a “merit-based country” once again.

“These are policies that were absolute nonsense, throughout the government and the private sector,” he said.

The Federal Reserve scrubbed a Diversity and Inclusion section from its website, with previous links to data on the racial, ethnic and gender make-up of its economists and researchers now defaulting to the homepage.

The Central Intelligence Agency has dissolved its diversity and inclusion office along with all related programmes, a spokesperson said in a statement.

Ms Stephanie La Rue, a senior government official who oversaw diversity policies for all 18 US intelligence agencies, likewise appeared to be sent home and references to her had been removed from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. A spokesperson for that office declined to comment.

The Department of Agriculture removed all information from its website on efforts to promote racial and gender diversity – including recommendations from its equity commission, formed during the Biden administration, on how the agency could improve its relationship with minority farmers, more fairly distribute farm loans and other efforts.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock asked Agriculture Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins at her confirmation hearing on Jan 23 if she would still consider the recommendations.

Ms Rollins said she would consider “anything on the table” but added: “President Trump won on the concept of removing the diversity, equity and inclusion, making sure that we’re basing our decisions on merit, and I obviously support that 100 per cent as well”.

The Department of Education said that it would no longer make diversity-related training materials and other documents available to the public and that it would shift to “prioritising meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in our schools”.

The department does not play a direct role in education, which is largely the domain of local governments, but it is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws in US schools.

Civil rights advocates say the DEI programmes are needed to overcome inequality stemming from the US’ history of racism, but Mr Trump and his supporters say the efforts end up unfairly discriminating against other Americans.

Median black household income was about 63 per cent of white, non-Hispanic household income in 2023, according to the US Census Bureau, up from 53 per cent in 1963, before major civil-rights laws took effect, suggesting limited economic advancement for black households in 60 years.

Broader campaign targeting workforce

A memo distributed to thousands of federal workers across the government on Jan 22

commanded employees to turn in co-workers

who sought to “disguise” DEI efforts by using “coded language”, warning that a failure to report relevant information would trigger “adverse consequences”.

Officials overseeing DEI programmes in numerous agencies and departments

were put on leave on Jan 22

, and their offices were set for permanent closure by month’s end.

The steps against diversity were part of Mr Trump’s broader campaign targeting the federal bureaucracy, which he has sometimes disparaged as the “deep state” secretly working against his agenda.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan 22 cancelled a call with state veterinarians that would normally discuss H5N1 bird flu, sources said. It was one of several US health agencies that cancelled meetings, suspended some publications and told employees to freeze travel after directives from leadership.

About 160 staff at the National Security Council (NSC), which draws from the State Department, Pentagon and other parts of the US government, were told during a brief call on Jan 22 to turn in their devices and badges and head home, three former NSC officials told Reuters.

NSC spokesman Brian Hughes said Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Mr Mike Waltz, had authorised a full staff review.

“It is entirely appropriate for Mr Waltz to ensure NSC personnel are committed to implementing President Trump’s America,” Mr Hughes said.

The news came as a surprise to the staff, who had been expecting new assignments or perhaps a pep talk, according to one of the former officials who spoke with colleagues who were on the call.

Gleeful hatred of the workforce

Mr Trump has frozen virtually all federal hiring and signed an executive order on his first day in office on Jan 20 that would allow his administration to fire at will tens of thousands of career civil servants, who historically have enjoyed job protections that insulate them from political partisanship.

The order, known as Schedule F, would permit Mr Trump to fill those positions with hand-picked loyalists. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 150,000 workers in three dozen agencies, filed a lawsuit challenging the move.

“This gleeful hatred of the federal workforce will lead to nothing good,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who represents 140,000 federal workers in Virginia, said.

The Department of Justice this week revoked an unspecified number of entry-level job offers to law students who had been accepted to its prestigious Honours Programme, citing the federal hiring freeze. REUTERS