NewsFlash

Crisis responders who answer veterans hotline warn of ‘a lapse in the mission’ under Trump administration 

The crisis responders who answer the national hotline run by the Department of Veterans Affairs are often talking to former armed service members at life’s lowest moments, many contemplating harming themselves or others.  With President Donald Trump ordering federal workers to return to the office, some are now answering those calls from veterans in crisis in open cubicles around other federal workers. Several spoke to CNN about using hushed tones and even resorting to working from their car in the office’s garage for privacy. The hotline staff no longer have their own office space because the buildings that housed the call center’s three national hubs – in Georgia, Kansas and New York – were all closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the people who answer the Veterans Crisis Line have worked remotely.

“They’re talking to them about their homicidal thoughts, their suicidal thoughts,” said Erika Alexander, president of AFGE 518, a local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees Union, and crisis responder in Atlanta. “No one should be sitting next to another random federal employee discussing some of the things that they have to discuss about the calls.” The end of telework is one of several changes that have thrown the Veterans Crisis Line into turmoil during the Trump administration. About a dozen hotline staffers were laid off as part of efforts to downsize the federal government only to be rehired, while others are taking leave because of the untenable working conditions given the sensitivities of their work.

“There’s going to be a lapse in the resources and the services that they get,” Alexander said. “If there are not enough employees to be there for the crisis hotline, then that’s going to definitely cause a lapse in the mission, which is veteran safety – it will be a very significant lapse.” The 24/7 hotline receives thousands of calls from veterans daily. In February, the crisis responders fielded an average of 2,870 a day. They also respond to hundreds of texts and website chats every day. “Because of everything that’s going on, because of all the unknown that is really happening – responders are not coning to work,” Karmen Fountain, secretary of AFGE 518, and a crisis responder told CNN, “They are calling out or they are taking leave.” Fountain described the computer systems queue for the Veterans Crisis Line that shows how many responders are available at any given time to pick up the next phone call that comes in. She said that recently, the queue has been empty for periods of time. “Our availability has been at zero, quite a few times last week where there’s nobody available to answer the phone.” Fountain said.

The unavailability of responders is rare. The crisis responders who spoke to CNN said past instances have spurred leadership to hire more staff, but they don’t think that will happen in the current political climate.  Two weeks ago, leadership at the Veterans Crisis Hotline filed an exemption to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, asking for an exemption for hotline workers so they can continue to work remotely until the department can find adequate office buildings that can support the privacy of their work. Peter Kasperowicz, press secretary for the VA, says it’s the department’s policy to bring as many employees back to the office as space permits, but that they are in the process of approving the exemption for the Veterans Crisis Line from the return to in-office work policy.  In response to questions about a range of concerns with the hotline, Kasperowicz said: “The VA will make accommodations as needed to ensure employees have enough space to work and will always ensure that Veterans’ access to benefits and services remains uninterrupted as employees return to in-person work.”

VA bracing for cuts

Along with other federal agencies, Veterans Affairs is bracing for steep cuts by the Trump administration that could lead to the termination of more than 70,000 employees.  In a memo, dated March 4, addressed to “under secretaries, assistant secretaries, and other key officials,” the Christopher Syrek, chief of staff for Veterans Affairs said that the department in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will move “aggressively” to restructure the VA across the entire department and “resize” the workforce. The 1,130 crisis responders at the VA hotline were set to return to work in the office in waves – the first being several dozen supervisors who did so last Monday. In the scramble of hundreds of thousands of federal employees returning to work, the supervisors were directed to report to various buildings alongside workers from different agencies. Supervisors in Atlanta, for instance, were told to report to an IRS building.

Crisis responders working from home, who are faced with a return to office mandate in May and have been hearing about the working conditions from their superiors who have already returned, have been anxious and stressed by all the uncertainty, union leaders told CNN. Shift logs reviewed by CNN at one of the three hubs show that 18 crisis responders of about 100 called out for their shift over a three week period through March 3 – an usually high number, the union leaders said. “We’re just noticing a lot of shortage with availability because of everything that’s going on, because of all the unknown that’s really happening,” said Shonta Thomas, chief steward of AFGE 518 and a crisis responder. “Responders are not coming to work, you know, they’re calling out, or, you know, they’re taking leave. So when those type of things happen, then the shortage of availability of the people that can answer the phone is limited.”

Union leaders say the anxiety around the conditions have led many workers to question whether they want to remain working with the hotline. “It puts you in a very stressful space and just a very uncomfortable position,” said Thomas – herself a Navy veteran. “Everything is in limbo. You just don’t know what to do. You want to maintain your job. And it’s like, you know, this is a time where I feel like they want people to leave. They want people to, you know, resign – and that’s not a good thing, because ultimately, at the end of the day, veterans will suffer.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/politics/crisis-responders-veterans-hotline-doge/index.html

Oh.  The tariff on Canada is put off for another month. No idea if Canada has dropped the retaliation. (I wouldn't have, it it were me.)

That's all I can manage for one day. There was just so much out there today.... Sorry I couldn't summarize better, but I excerpted where I could and where I thought it was possible to click through to the entire original articles. Some are a bit long, but I couldn't really cut them. I am taking tomorrow off unless something eye-stabby comes along.

All this USA news may not be of use to you, but if any of it is to anyone, that's why I'm keeping posting here. The stuff that doesn't necessarily make the international news is sometimes the most important.

Stay safe, and be well, wherever you are.

 

Trump considering major NATO policy shift
The president has discussed possibly favoring members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their GDP on defense, sources told NBC News.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering a major change to the U.S.’ participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to three current and former senior U.S. officials and one congressional official. Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense, the officials said. As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, which says that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them.

The president is similarly considering a policy change in which the U.S. may choose to prioritize military exercises with NATO members that are spending the set percentage of their GDPs on defense, the officials said. His administration has already signaled to America’s European allies that the U.S. could reduce its military presence in Europe, and one option now under consideration is to reposition some U.S. troops in the region so they are focused in or around NATO countries that have scaled their defense spending to meet the specific percentage of their GDPs, the officials said. Asked about Trump considering making these changes to how the U.S. engages with NATO, a National Security Council official said in a written statement, “President Trump is committed to NATO and Article V.” Sen. Chris Coons, of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense and a senior senator on the Foreign Relations panel, said Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, “gave very reassuring answers” on the administration’s commitment to NATO and Article 5.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO countries for not meeting the current NATO member goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense. He has argued that the disparity is unfair and puts an added burden on the U.S. NATO countries agreed more than a decade ago to set the spending goal for each of them at 2% of GDP. But Trump has pushed to increase that percentage. Most recently he said NATO members should spend 5% of their GDP on defense, though the U.S. does not currently do that.

“NATO has to pay more,” Trump said in January after taking office. “It’s ridiculous because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between.”

According to NATO’s most recent statistics, last year 23 NATO members’ defense spending exceeded 2% of their GDP. Five of those nations — Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Poland and the U.S. — spent more than 3% on defense. Poland had the highest percentage, dedicating 4.12% of its GDP to defense. The potential shift in how the U.S. participates in NATO comes as Trump is pushing European allies to do more to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia and to play a major role in maintaining peace in the country if a deal to end the war is reached. “I was contacted by several European ambassadors concerned about rumors that Trump might make some negative announcement about NATO,” Coons told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday. Trump didn’t announce anything at his joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, but Coons said, “If you’re not given pause by everything about President Trump’s statements and actions on foreign policy, you’re not paying attention.”

Trump threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO during his first term and has questioned the merits of Article 5 for the U.S. The article was designed to protect European nations from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It has been triggered just once, after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Ukraine has sought NATO membership, but the Trump administration has said that would not be part of any negotiated peace deal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-considering-major-nato-policy-shift-rcna195089

[Obviously the man is not remembering NORAD and the reason it exists. Existed?]

A former government official who says she was falsely accused of illegally sending funds to New York City to book luxury hotels for undocumented migrants — and then publicly ridiculed and fired — said Thursday that just days earlier she had been directed by a member of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, to make the payments.

Mary Comans, who was the chief financial officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, sued the agency and the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, on Tuesday. "I was fired illegally by the Trump administration for doing my job, for doing exactly what I was directed to do by the Trump political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security and at the DOGE," she told CBS News in an interview Thursday. "They told me to do these actions, to make these payments, and then they fired me."  A DHS spokesperson did not respond for comment, nor did Brad Smith, the DOGE official Comans says she interacted with.

The lawsuit argues she was "unlawfully terminated" from her position "without cause or the due process required by law and the Constitution." As chief financial officer, Comans was a member of the "senior executive service," the highest-level civil servant. The lawsuit alleges that DHS and FEMA publicly disclosed information about her termination that was protected under the Privacy Act and that she was defamed by the false portrayal about her conduct. At the time of her dismissal, Comans says the agency suggested falsely in a press release that she was a "deep state activist."

MORE at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mary-comans-fired-fema-cfo-musk-doge-migrants-new-york-city/

KGTV - San Diego, California

‘It is like jail’: German man visiting American fiancé detained by ICE for over 2 weeks -2nd German arrested after trying to enter San Diego border

A German man says he’s grateful to be back home in Europe after being arrested by ICE and forced to spend over two weeks at an immigration detention center near the San Diego border.


SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A German man says he’s grateful to be back home in Europe after being arrested by ICE and forced to spend over two weeks at an immigration detention center near the San Diego border. Lucas Sielaff, 25, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers put him and his American fiancée in handcuffs after they tried to enter the San Diego-Mexico border from Tijuana last month. “They accused me [of living] in America instead of visiting, but there was no proof that I overstayed anything,” Sielaff said in an interview with Team 10 Thursday from Germany. Sielaff has been in a long-distance relationship with Las Vegas psychologist Dr. Lennon Tyler since 2022, when the two met overseas in Prague.

Lennon Tyler, 43, is a U.S. citizen who works as a psychologist in Las Vegas. She said her and her fiancé were detained at the San Diego border. She told Team 10 her fiancé has come to the U.S. before without issue and always returned to Germany to comply with his visa. She went to Tijuana to get expensive surgery for her dog. She said CBP officers were immediately suspicious after seeing Sielaff’s German passport and sent the couple to a secondary screening, where they were separated on Feb. 18. She said she was forced to leave her dog alone in the car for hours.

Claims CBP chained ankle

“They rip my hair tie out. They do a body check. They make me open my mouth. They fingerprint me. I say, 'Is this legal? Can I have a lawyer?' They say, 'You don't have a right to have a lawyer. You're being detained in a secure building,'" she said. Tyler, an American citizen, said when she asked to speak to a supervisor, tensions escalated. “They take me over to a bench. They chain my ankle to a bench. Hours go by. I keep asking questions. They tell me to shut up," she said.

She accused CBP officers of using scare tactics on her fiancé. “They use fear and confusion to control you. I'm a psychologist and that's what was happening," she said. Sielaff said CBP canceled his ESTA visa. ICE then arrested him and placed him in the Otay Mesa Detention Center. “It was like a psychological game, and you have to tell yourself every time to be strong and be calm. It’s an experience nobody wants," he said.

'Grateful to be home'

Team 10 asked CBP and ICE why Sielaff was being detained on Monday, but the agencies didn’t return our emails. But soon after, Tyler said she got a frantic call from Sielaff. "He sounds panicked. He says, 'Baby, I need you right now.' And I said, "What do you need?" And he says, 'They just called my name right now, and I need you to book this flight,'" Tyler said. The German national had just minutes to enter a flight confirmation on a tablet inside the detention center that inmates use to communicate with ICE officers. It worked. On Wednesday evening, ICE escorted Sielaff to the San Diego airport, where he boarded a flight to Munich. “I'm grateful to be home,” he said after getting off the plane.

Last week, Team 10 reported a German tattoo artist was being held by ICE in detention after trying to enter the San Diego border from Mexico with her American friend. Jessica Brösche, whom ICE said violated the terms of her visa, remains in custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Tyler said she is now warning other Germans who might be thinking of coming to the U.S. to cancel their trips. “They are holding innocent German nationals and throwing them in prison," she said.

https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?action=post;topic=101477.285;last_msg=1329941

They're going after the universities now. First the Indirect Cost fiasco, now by any means they think they can justify.

A $400 million punishment for Columbia University from the Trump administration

The Trump administration is seeking to cancel roughly $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University, a federal antisemitism task force announced Friday. The Justice Department task force to combat antisemitism, led by Leo Terrell, has been probing 10 institutions because of their responses to antisemitic incidents on campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. But Columbia, which faced intense scrutiny for its students’ high-profile antiwar encampment and building occupations last spring, is the first institution to have its grants and contracts frozen.

“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in antisemitism. This is only the beginning,” said Terrell, who also serves as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. “Canceling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff.” The affected contracts come from the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the General Services Administration. The administration said Columbia’s grants were scrutinized because of the “school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”

The task force said to expect more cancellations as it continues to seek more areas to cut contracts or grants to the institution from other agencies. Columbia University holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments. GSA will assist HHS and ED in issuing stop-work orders on grants and contracts to immediately freeze access to those funds. “We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding,” a University spokesperson said in a statement. “We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting [sic] antisemitism and ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff.”

Other institutions being investigated by the task force include: George Washington University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California. The task force notified Columbia on March 3 that it would conduct a comprehensive review of the university’s federal contracts and grants because of the investigation into whether it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. All schools that receive federal funds must comply with Title VI, a federal law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin. Schools who violate the law could be at risk of losing funding.

“Universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”

MORE at  https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-freezes-400-million-184321184.html

D.C. U.S. attorney tells Georgetown he won’t hire from any school with ‘DEI’

 Interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin demanded that the dean of Georgetown Law School end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the school, asserting in a letter that his office will not consider hiring anyone affiliated with a university that utilizes DEI. The warning was delivered in a letter dated Feb. 17 to William M. Treanor, a constitutional law scholar and one of the longest-serving deans of the largest law school in the nation’s capital. The first letter was misaddressed, but it was re-sent Monday. “At this time, you should know that no applicant for our fellows program, our summer internship, or employment in our office who is a student or affiliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI will be considered,” Martin wrote in the two-page letter.

FROM - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dc-us-attorney-tells-georgetown-he-won-t-hire-from-any-school-with-dei/ar-AA1AkZb5

RESPONSE FROM Georgetown Law -

“Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.”

Full letter from Georgetown can be read on this site - https://wjla.com/news/local/georgetown-law-us-attorney-dc-ed-martin-first-amendment-diversity-equity-inclusion-top-federal-prosecutor-hiring-private-school-students-faculty-students-curriculum-dei-trump-president-discourse

Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada, including 250% tax on dairy

Yep.  It's here. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/business/tariffs-trump-canada/index.html

The US appears to be hosting the next World Cup.

I'd hope it was heavily boycotted.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/sport/white-house-task-force-world-cup/index.html

The US appears to be hosting the next World Cup.

I'd hope it was heavily boycotted.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/sport/white-house-task-force-world-cup/index.html

Unfortunately it won’t be boycotted. If ever a World Cup was going to be boycotted it would have been the recent one in Qatar. Human rights, slave labor to build the stadiums etc. but it was still a big success.

Excerpt from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/us/trump-federal-agencies-websites-words-dei.html


These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration

By Karen Yourish, Annie Daniel, Saurabh Datar, Isaac White and Lazaro Gamio March 7, 2025

As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of “woke” initiatives, agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents.

    accessible
    activism
    activists
    advocacy
    advocate
    advocates
    affirming care
    all-inclusive
    allyship
    anti-racism
    antiracist
    assigned at birth
    assigned female at birth
    assigned male at birth
    at risk
    barrier
    barriers
    belong
    bias
    biased
    biased toward
    biases
    biases towards
    biologically female
    biologically male
    BIPOC
    Black
    breastfeed + people
    breastfeed + person
    chestfeed + people
    chestfeed + person
    clean energy
    climate crisis
    climate science
    commercial sex worker
    community diversity
    community equity
    confirmation bias
    cultural competence
    cultural differences
    cultural heritage
    cultural sensitivity
    culturally appropriate
    culturally responsive
    DEI
    DEIA
    DEIAB
    DEIJ
    disabilities
    disability
    discriminated
    discrimination
    discriminatory
    disparity
    diverse
    diverse backgrounds
    diverse communities
    diverse community
    diverse group
    diverse groups
    diversified
    diversify
    diversifying
    diversity
    enhance the diversity
    enhancing diversity
    environmental quality
    equal opportunity
    equality
    equitable
    equitableness
    equity
    ethnicity
    excluded
    exclusion
    expression
    female
    females
    feminism
    fostering inclusivity
    GBV
    gender
    gender based
    gender based violence
    gender diversity
    gender identity
    gender ideology
    gender-affirming care
    genders
    Gulf of Mexico
    hate speech
    health disparity
    health equity
    hispanic minority
    historically
    identity
    immigrants
    implicit bias
    implicit biases
    inclusion
    inclusive
    inclusive leadership
    inclusiveness
    inclusivity
    increase diversity
    increase the diversity
    indigenous community
    inequalities
    inequality
    inequitable
    inequities
    inequity
    injustice
    institutional
    intersectional
    intersectionality
    key groups
    key people
    key populations
    Latinx
    LGBT
    LGBTQ
    marginalize
    marginalized
    men who have sex with men
    mental health
    minorities
    minority
    most risk
    MSM
    multicultural
    Mx
    Native American
    non-binary
    nonbinary
    oppression
    oppressive
    orientation
    people + uterus
    people-centered care
    person-centered
    person-centered care
    polarization
    political
    pollution
    pregnant people
    pregnant person
    pregnant persons
    prejudice
    privilege
    privileges
    promote diversity
    promoting diversity
    pronoun
    pronouns
    prostitute
    race
    race and ethnicity
    racial
    racial diversity
    racial identity
    racial inequality
    racial justice
    racially
    racism
    segregation
    sense of belonging
    sex
    sexual preferences
    sexuality
    social justice
    sociocultural
    socioeconomic
    status
    stereotype
    stereotypes
    systemic
    systemically
    they/them
    trans
    transgender
    transsexual
    trauma
    traumatic
    tribal
    unconscious bias
    underappreciated
    underprivileged
    underrepresentation
    underrepresented
    underserved
    undervalued
    victim
    victims
    vulnerable populations
    women
    women and underrepresented

Notes: Some terms listed with a plus sign represent combinations of words that, when used together, acknowledge transgender people, which is not in keeping with the current federal government’s position that there are only two, immutable sexes. Any term collected above was included on at least one agency’s list, which does not necessarily imply that other agencies are also discouraged from using it.

The above terms appeared in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents viewed by The New York Times. Some ordered the removal of these words from public-facing websites, or ordered the elimination of other materials (including school curricula) in which they might be included. In other cases, federal agency managers advised caution in the terms’ usage without instituting an outright ban. Additionally, the presence of some terms was used to automatically flag for review some grant proposals and contracts that could conflict with Mr. Trump’s executive orders. The list is most likely incomplete. More agency memos may exist than those seen by New York Times reporters, and some directives are vague or suggest what language might be impermissible without flatly stating it.

All presidential administrations change the language used in official communications to reflect their own policies. It is within their prerogative, as are amendments to or the removal of web pages, which The Times has found has already happened thousands of times in this administration. Still, the words and phrases listed here represent a marked — and remarkable — shift in the corpus of language being used both in the federal government’s corridors of power and among its rank and file. They are an unmistakable reflection of this administration’s priorities.

For example, the Trump administration has frequently framed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as being inherently at odds with what it has identified as “merit,” and it has argued that these initiatives have resulted in the elevation of unqualified or undeserving people. That rhetorical strategy — with its baked-in assumption of a lack of capacity in people of color, women, the disabled and other marginalized groups — has been criticized as discriminatory. Indeed, in some cases, guidance against a term’s usage has arrived alongside directives intended to eliminate the concept itself. Federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are one example; the Gulf of Mexico is a very different one.

That shift is already apparent on hundreds of federal government websites. A New York Times analysis of pages on federal agency websites, before and after Mr. Trump took office, found that more than 250 contained evidence of deletions or amendments to words included in the above list.

[SNIP]

[Examples given of changed web pages are attached]

[NOTE - I've been hearing that grants proposals for academic research that have any of those words in their texts are being bounced back for "revision" prior to consideration.]

Private Prisons Are Ramping Up Detention of Immigrants and Cashing In - The Trump administration is expected to use thousands more beds in these facilities as part of its mass deportation effort.  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/us/politics/private-prisons-immigrants-detention-trump.html

Senior State Department officials have drawn up plans to close a dozen consulates overseas by this summer and are considering shutting down many more missions, in what could be a blow to the U.S. government’s efforts to build partnerships and gather intelligence, American officials say.

EXCERPTS from  https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-plans-consulate-closures-mainly-western-europe-nyt-reports-2025-03-06/

Trump administration weighs closure of nearly a dozen diplomatic missions abroad -

WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is preparing to shut down almost a dozen consulates that are mainly in Western Europe in the coming months and is looking to reduce its workforce globally, multiple U.S. officials said on Thursday. Leipzig, Hamburg and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux, Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg in France, and Florence in Italy were among a list of smaller consulates that the State Department is considering shutting down, three officials said, adding that could still change as some staff were making a case for them to stay open. U.S. consulates in Belo Horizonte in Brazil and Ponta Delgada in Portugal were also on the list, the officials said. "The State Department continues to assess our global posture to ensure we are best positioned to address modern challenges on behalf of the American people," a State Department spokesperson said.

ARBITRARY CUTS

Officials said the department had notified Congress on Monday that it plans to shutter its branch in Turkey's southeastern city of Gaziantep, a location from which Washington has supported humanitarian work in northern Syria. "Some of these are so small the savings from cutting is quite insignificant," one U.S. official said. "It just fits with the theme of the administration's performative and arbitrary cuts without any method or strategy."

In Washington, dozens of contractors at the department's bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor have been terminated in recent weeks. The office at the department overseeing the resettlement of Afghans in the United States has been told to develop plans to close by April, Reuters has reported. Several dozen contractors in that bureau were being terminated.

Diplomats working on Asia affairs were asked to submit a brief assessment to justify the continuation of U.S. missions in the region. An early February internal State Department email asked officials to make a short summary addressing the mission's diplomatic importance and relevance to the "America First agenda", according to the email, seen by Reuters.  The department operates in more than 270 diplomatic missions worldwide with a total workforce of nearly 70,000, according to its website. About 45,000 are locally employed staff, 13,000 are members of the foreign service and 11,000 are civil service employees. Following Trump's sweeping freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid, thousands of USAID staff and contractors were terminated or put on leave, and billions of dollars worth of life-saving humanitarian aid has been cut.

This is about a half-hour watch, but you may want to.