Posted on January 23, 2025

Marco Rubio Launches Counter-DEI Push on His First Day at the State Department

Jimmy Quinn, National Review, January 21, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off a “sweeping” reversal of left-wing social programs and policies at the State Department, upon taking office today. He told employees of the federal agency that he will “faithfully” implement President Trump’s directive to strip DEI from the federal government and reinstate a focus on “performance and merit” alone, in a diplomatic cable obtained by National Review.

The cable, which was issued this afternoon, laid out Rubio’s vision for reorienting the State Department’s work exclusively around promoting America’s national interest and announced the new secretary of state’s plans to scrap DEI as a precept for promotion. RealClearPolitics was first to report on the cable.

The Biden-era State Department had stipulated that employees “promote” diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as a factor in personnel decisions, National Review exclusively reported in 2022.

Under the Biden administration, State pursued a litany of internal workforce initiatives and diplomatic actions centered on the promotion of “equity,” as distinct from equality. Those steps followed the implementation of executive orders early into Joe Biden’s presidency instilling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into every federal agency. Among the many executive orders President Trump signed last night were orders that reversed Biden’s DEI push (referred to in the parlance of the federal government as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, or DEIA).

{snip}

He also said State’s promotion of “political and cultural causes that are divisive at home and deeply unpopular abroad” must end. As a senator, Rubio criticized State Department grants that promoted left-wing social ideologies.

Rubio also told department staffers in the message that Foggy Bottom would “no longer undertake any activities that facilitate or encourage” mass migration to the United States. {snip}

{snip}