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US State Department draws criticism for shutting office that brings home deceased diplomats
July 17, 2025
WASHINGTON,
July 17 (Reuters) - Among the scores of offices the U.S. State
Department eliminated last week in its dramatic revamp, the shuttering
of one little-known office has raised particular alarm among U.S.
diplomats.
The
small team at the Department's Office of Casualty Assistance, which
supports U.S. diplomats and their families abroad in the event of death
or serious injury, received termination notices last Friday along with more than 1,350 Department employees. The firings came as a surprise, sources familiar with their situation said.
When
the notices arrived by email on Friday, the team was working on
repatriating the remains of a senior U.S. official who died in a car
crash in Mexico last week.
The
U.S. Consulate in Monterrey said in a Facebook statement that Brian
Matthew Faughnan, a member of its mission, died in a car accident in the
northern Mexican state of Coahuila on July 9.
Kirk
Leach, the team leader at OCA, informed other U.S. officials at the
U.S. mission in Mexico and his counterparts in different government
agencies who were working on Faughnan's case that Leach was just removed
from his job, and that he was no longer able to help, according to two
sources familiar with the exchange.
The elimination of the office was part of a major overhaul of the State Department by President Donald Trump, who aims to reshape the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure it faithfully implements his "America First" policies.
It
is also part of an unprecedented push by the Republican president to
shrink the federal government, which he says was misspending American
taxpayers' money.
The
State Department said the agency continues to be "fully equipped" with
casualty evacuations if there are employee deaths overseas. "There has
been no interruption in our capabilities to carry out this mission,"
said a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
TAKING CARE OF DIPLOMATS
The State Department revamp drew intense criticism from Democratic senators, former diplomats
and secretaries of state for what they said was the arbitrary way it
was carried out. Critics said it involved the firing of experienced,
specialized employees in far-flung parts of the world, and that such
skilled staffers are difficult to replace quickly.
A State Department memo to employees last week, seen by Reuters, said the moves were made in a "carefully tailored" way.
But the shuttering of the bureau made some question that statement.
"I
don't think any sitting president or any secretary of state would not
want their people, their personnel - the most valuable asset of their
agency - to be taken care of," said Edith Bartley, who is a spokesperson
for the families of the Americans killed in the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks
on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
"You
want to know that your country does all that it can to take care of
you, your remains and your family in the aftermath. That's critical.
That is America First," Bartley said.
Bartley
lost her father, who was a career diplomat, and brother in the 1998
attacks, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. OCA was
established a year later, thanks in large part to her advocacy.
The
office is typically supported by volunteers from the Department's Human
Resources bureau who can be mobilized on short notice following a mass
casualty event. The teams were called upon after the 2012 attack on the
U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death
of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.
"OCA
is in touch with the deceased employee’s family within hours after the
death, and provides support services as long as they are needed - for
weeks, months, and in some cases, years," an undated article in the
Department's magazine said, referring to the work of the office.
A
senior State Department official said on Wednesday that the agency
transferred the functions of the OCA to the Office of Employee
Relations. But that office has a much wider remit, supporting the
agency's workforce, and lacks the specific knowledge and expertise in
navigating the complicated procedures of repatriating a deceased
diplomat, sources familiar with the matter said.
"That
function is being folded into another office," Michael Rigas, deputy
secretary of state for Management and Resources, said on Wednesday, in
response to a question about the closure of the office by Democratic
Senator Jeanne Shaheen at a hearing.
Shaheen
also asked Rigas to get back to her on how the department was handling
the repatriation of the body of Faughnan, the U.S. official who died in
Mexico. "I don't think the family thinks that that's a good firing,"
Shaheen said.
Reuters was unable to reach Faughnan's family.
(This story has been refiled to correct Kirk Leach's last name in paragraph 5)
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington Additional reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer in Mexico City; Editing by Don Durfee and Matthew Lewis