消息人士告诉ABC新闻，国务院指示世界各地的美国大使馆周三开始计划裁员。
消息人士称，作为这一过程的一部分，大使馆高级官员被要求提供所有员工及其就业状况的综合名单，并解释说，这一要求包括终身职位、无人照管职位和临时任务。
消息人士补充说，大使馆将被要求削减美国职员和从大使馆所在地雇佣的雇员。
周三下午，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)签署了一项行政命令，迫使国务院工作人员遵守其政府的外交政策目标，同时如果他们不遵守，就更容易对他们进行纪律处分。
该命令题为“美国外交关系的一个声音”，称国务卿“必须保持一支杰出的爱国者队伍”，以有效地支持外交政策倡议。
这涉及到“改革外交服务”的能力，不仅通过人员调整，还包括抵押品的变化。它具体修改了一套政策和程序，这些政策和程序控制着国务院工作和美国海外外交存在的几乎每一个方面:外交事务手册和外交事务手册。
该行政命令的全面影响将取决于签署后采取的措施，但它可能为国务院的大规模重组铺平道路，从而巩固总统钦点的政治任命者的权力。
这种变化可能会授权国务院剥夺驻外外交人员的福利，如安全保护和每年带薪探亲旅行。它们可能会影响联邦雇员日常工作的几乎每个方面，从处理机密信息到处理利益冲突。
在极端情况下，该命令还可能为缩小美国在海外的外交足迹铺平道路——促使国务院重新考虑美国大使馆在某些国家的存在。
国务院可能会重新考虑加入某些国际组织或退出现有的外交协定。
特朗普政府很可能面临该命令的法律挑战，但编纂外交事务管理的法律对国务卿相当恭敬。
在过去的两周里，美国国际开发署派驻大使馆的绝大多数员工已经被行政休假。
据美国广播公司新闻部(ABC News)查阅的通讯显示，这导致一些大使和使团负责人向部门领导投诉，称他们没有监督仍在运行的美国国际开发署项目所需的人员。
消息人士称，特朗普政府还解雇了从事包括外交安全在内的关键使馆职能的承包商，并正在考虑进一步裁员，其中可能包括未经培训的外交安全局直接雇员。
US embassies instructed to prepare for staff reductions: Sources
The State Department instructed United States embassies around the world to start planning for staff reductions on Wednesday, sources told ABC News.
Senior embassy officials were asked to provide comprehensive lists of all employees and their employment status as part of the process, sources said, explaining that the request includes tenured, untenured and temporary duty assignments.
Embassies will be required to cut both American staff and employees hired from the location in which the embassy is based, sources added.
The State Department communication went out shortly before President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday afternoon that compelled State Department staff to comply with his administration’s foreign policy goals -- while making it easier to discipline them if they don’t.
Titled "ONE VOICE FOR AMERICA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS," the order said that the secretary of state "must maintain an exceptional workforce of patriots" in order to effectively uphold foreign policy initiatives.
That involves the ability to "reform the Foreign Service" through not only staffing revisions but also changes to collateral. It specifies revamping the set of policies and procedures that control almost every element of the State Department’s work and U.S. diplomatic presence abroad: the Foreign Affairs Manual and the Foreign Affairs Handbooks.
The full scope of the executive order’s implications will depend on the steps taken after its signing, but it could pave the way for a massive restructuring of the State Department that consolidates power under political appointees that are hand-selected by the president.
Such changes could empower the State Department to strip benefits from members of the foreign service stationed abroad, like security protections and annual paid travel to visit family members. They could impact virtually every element of the federal employees' day-to-day jobs, from the handling of classified information to dealing with conflicts of interest.
Taken to the extreme, the order could also pave the way for shrinking the U.S. diplomatic footprint abroad — prompting the State Department to rethink the presence of U.S. embassies in certain countries altogether.
The department might reconsider membership in some international organizations or withdraw from existing diplomatic agreements.
The Trump administration is likely to face legal challenges over the order, but the law that codifies the administration of the foreign service is fairly deferential to the secretary of state.
In the past two weeks, an overwhelming majority of U.S. Agency for International Development employees who were embedded in embassies have already been put on administrative leave.
This has led a number of ambassadors and chiefs of mission to register complaints with department leadership, saying they don’t have the staff needed to oversee the USAID programs that are still in operation, according to communications reviewed by ABC News.
The Trump administration has also already fired contractors who worked on key embassy functions, including diplomatic security, and it is considering further reductions that could include untenured Diplomatic Security Service direct hires, sources said.
