At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) asked Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas about the 1,300 firings at the State Department.
00:00Thank you, Senator Cain. We have dueling committees going on trying to get
00:04questions and everything. I appreciate it. And thank you, Chairman Risch, Ranking
00:08Member Shaheen for holding this hearing. Thank you to Mr. Regas for joining us
00:12today. And as I stated yesterday, the State Department's recent reductions in
00:16force should be upsetting to anyone who cares about the United States national
00:20security. From the Department's misguided reorganization to the plans to
00:24riff our closure of USAID, this administration's approach to our foreign
00:28policy and national security is deeply troubling. It's providing, actually,
00:34opportunities left and right for our adversaries, like the PRC, to come fill
00:38the gaps where we're pulling people out. And we'll talk about that. I'm going to
00:42turn to my first question, particularly about counterterrorism. So the State's
00:47Bureau of Counterterrorism, it bolsters our national security by playing a leading
00:50role in developing coordinated strategies and approaches to defeat terrorism
00:55abroad. Terrorism abroad, it doesn't stay abroad. Let's just put it that way. I have
01:00significant concerns that many of the recent decisions by the administration
01:04regarding CT work could actually lead to an increase in terrorist threats across
01:09the globe. So Deputy Secretary, it appears that as part of the department's
01:14reorganization, the CT Bureau has terminated dozens of programs that support
01:19countries to counter those CT threats that, again, we pretty sure they don't always stay in
01:25those countries. And with the closure of USAID, USAID, excuse me, and the Office of
01:31Countering Violent Extremism, it really remains unclear what, if any programs will
01:36exist that prevent the recruitment of desperate people to terrorism. Desperate
01:43people get recruited to terrorism every day around this globe. So do you believe
01:47these changes could lead to an increase in CT threats in the United States?
01:52Thank you for the senator's question. So the Bureau of Counterterrorism was merged with the
01:58International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. I'm asking what you believe. Do you believe that these changes
02:03will lead to an increase or not? So the essential functions will remain. As I discussed
02:10earlier, the key functions that we want to continue carrying forward will still be
02:13executed at the Department of State. They're just not going to be done sort of siloed. What about the staff that counter white nationalism and anti-semitism? They've been riffed. We know it's not going to be done.
02:17What about the staff that counter white nationalism and anti-semitism? They've been riffed. We know that this is a problem around the world, particularly since October 7th. Can you confirm whether the department will continue to counter white nationalism and anti-semitism overseas?
02:33So as I described earlier, how the bump and retreat process works is the people who have the greatest level of experience, the longest tenure, the best language skills are the people who are competed against in a combined organization.
02:47So even though people who did have skills and experience did unfortunately get ripped.
02:52So how many staff do you expect to work on CT issues across your regional bureaus and what you're doing?
02:58Yeah, I can certainly get you that number. I mean, what the combined office is.
03:01And are any of the CT advisors going to the Bureau of European Eurasian Affairs? Is there a proposed to go to other regional bureaus? Do you know that? Or do you have to get that?
03:11Right. So the idea behind the reorganization was to move a lot of these functions into the regional bureaus and to the individual post level.
03:22So the people there who are on the ground engaging in diplomacy.
03:25Willing to commit to provide a report to us that we're still going to continue to counter these issues of terrorism, white nationalism and anti-semitism across the new reorganization.
03:36It is extremely important to people in the United States and around the globe.
03:40Oh, certainly. I mean, I think the president's talked about, you know.
03:43I'm asking you if you'll commit to come back to this committee and report on the workforce you have working in those areas.
03:50Certainly. Certainly.
03:51Thank you. I want to move on to women and girls because I'm deeply concerned about the department's proposal to eliminate the Office of Global Women's Issues, GWI.
04:02And the decision to eliminate, it really seems like all of the staff, all of it in the office this past Friday.
04:10So does the State Department plan to implement a policy that promotes gender equality, empowers women's and girls and advances women's rights?
04:17Just yes or no is pretty simple.
04:19Oh, certainly. Yeah. And I think as the secretary stated, the needs of women in, you know, in Japan are different than the needs of women in Guatemala or Ghana or Pakistan or Germany.
04:28Yes. And so having a sort of a more finely tuned approach, I think, is what we're going for here.
04:34Because I believe that if we abandon women and girls around the globe, we, again, promote instability in families and nations around the world.
04:44And that, again, relates to desperate people turning to terrorism in order to take care of their families.
04:50We know women are often the glue that keeps stability going on.
04:54So I hope that you continue to focus on this issue. I would look forward to working with you on that.
04:59And look forward. We only have six seconds.
05:04I would like to know about, for the record, how many staff have been let go and what are some of your proposals going forward.
05:10So we'll submit that for the record. Look forward to your answer.
05:14Thank you again, Senator Cain and Mr. Chairman.
