WASHINGTON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced a comprehensive plan to reorganize the U.S. State Department, aiming to deliver on U.S. President Donald Trump's America First foreign policy.

Rubio said in a statement that "we are facing tremendous challenges across the globe" and "In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition."

"Over the past 15 years, the Department's footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy. The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America's core national interests," Rubio noted.

"That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department into the 21st Century," he said, adding that "This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies. Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America's core national interests will cease to exist."

The plan will reportedly reduce staff in the United States by 15 percent and eliminate more than 130 domestic offices. Enditem

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