Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement of a major reorganization of the State Department this week was meant to signal a leaner foreign policy machine, removing layers of bureaucracy that he says slowed down quick action in a crisis-ridden world.

But critics are warning that the Trump administration is kneecapping America’s influence on the international stage, having already gutted U.S. foreign policy tools including U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Voice of America and offices focused on economic development abroad.

“My concern is that we are eliminating some of our strongest assets,” said Esther Brimmer, senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations and who served as assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs during the Obama administration.

“It could be that some of these changes actually are helpful and bring together people who've been in different cones of the department, but we'll have to see in the implementation.”

Tibor Nagy, who returned to retirement after four months serving as undersecretary for management under Rubio, said he was “gung-ho” about the secretary’s reorganization, even as he’s criticized the manner of the shut-down of USAID, which he called chaotic.

“I’ve been with the State Department since 1978 and spent most of that time in the field in Africa, but of course, it's given me an opportunity to see the State Department's evolution. And the larger it got and the more bureaus that were established, the more dysfunctional it became,” he said.

Rubio’s reorganization, which was announced on Tuesday, included eliminating 132 offices and transitioning 137 other offices to other locations within the agency — a move even critics concede may deliver some needed streamlining around policy development.

“I used to shake my head that the single issue bureaus, whenever an important policy piece made it through the rounds, they would do what I came to call a Christmas........

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