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The contractors helped enact programs that focus on building up civil society and democratic practices in authoritarian states such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
The State Department has fired about 60 contractors who work for its democracy, human rights and labor bureau, a division whose programs have often been criticized by authoritarian leaders, according to two U.S. officials and two former officials.
The dismissals deal a severe blow to the bureau, because the contractors were mostly technical or area experts whom senior officials relied on to do the day-to-day work of enacting the programs overseas.
The bureau has received about $150 million to $200 million of annual budget funding from Congress in recent years. But the bureau also handles and passes on money that Congress appropriates for other groups, including the National Endowment for Democracy.
Besides the contractors, the bureau has about 200 full-time staff employees. They mainly work out of Washington, where the programs are run from the State Department’s headquarters.
The bureau’s programs have often been focused on building up civil society and democratic practices in countries where the United States does not have missions and formal diplomatic ties, or where relations with an authoritarian government are especially tense. This includes Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 that has suspended any money or programs that can be deemed to be foreign aid or assistance.
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