'To make it great again': Marco Rubio announces 'comprehensive plan' to restructure 'bloated' US State Department

United States secretary of state Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced there would be a "comprehensive" reorganization of the US State Department , which he leads. According to Rubio, the State Department, in its current form, is "bloated", "bureaucratic", and it has "failed" to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this era of "great power competition."

"We are facing tremendous challenges across the globe. To deliver on President Trump’s America First foreign policy , we must make the State Department Great Again," a State Department press release quoted Rubio as saying.

America's top diplomat further said, "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."

Rubio accused the bureaucracy of creating a system which is "more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests."

The restructuring, he stated, would "empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies."

The US secretary of state noted that under the new plan, region-specific functions would be consolidated to increase functionality; redundant offices would be removed, and non-statutory programmes which are "misaligned" with the country’s core national interests would be ended.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, we have a commander in chief committed to putting America and Americans first. As his secretary of state, I am confident a reformed State Department will meet the moment and help make our country great once again," Rubio said, concluding the message.