US State Department is moving to close nearly a dozen consulates

 

US State Department is moving to close nearly a dozen consulates

The State Department is moving to close nearly a dozen consulates around the world, according to a source familiar with the matter and a congressional aide.

The moves come as the agency eyes broader organizational changes and significant reductions in its workforce both domestically and abroad. The Trump administration, spurred by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, has taken drastic steps to shrink the federal workforce.

As outposts of US diplomatic missions, consulates provide services like visa processing and other services for American citizens in need. They also serve to collect information to send back to Washington, DC, from areas away from nations’ capitals. Officials say they are an important diplomatic tool as the US looks to counter nations like China. Most consulates do not have a large workforce.

A memo was circulated within the State Department identifying a number of consulates the agency was looking to shutter, mostly in Western Europe, one source said. According to a congressional aide, the State Department informed Capitol Hill last month that it was looking to close ten outposts – Leipzig, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux, Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg in France, Ponta Delgado in Portugal and Belo Horizonte in Brazil.

On Monday, the State Department said it was moving forward with the closure of the consulate in Gaziantep, Turkey, a base for humanitarian work with Syria.

A State Department spokesperson, asked about the closures, said the agency “continues to assess our global posture to ensure we are best positioned to address modern challenges on behalf of the American people.”

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