If you’re hiring someone it’s obvious that you want to pick the person who’s the most qualified for the job. This is especially true when it comes to someone who has an important role in the federal government. Yet, for years under the former Biden administration, this mindset was not followed at all.

In fact, many times the Biden administration did the opposite of picking the most qualified person. Instead, they used diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices to make hires and evaluate employees who worked in the federal government. Many of these roles carry a large amount of importance and can’t afford for DEI practices to get in their way.

But apparently, President Biden and his team didn’t care about that. They were more interested in implementing DEI instead of fine-tuning these roles in the federal government to ultimately serve the American people. DEI becomes incredibly useless when it’s used to hire someone who in turn fails at their job which could then possibly affect millions of Americans. But thanks to the Trump administration’s efforts through DOGE, these DEI practices are coming to a swift end.

Sweeping Reforms Target DEI in Foreign Service and Beyond

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the State Department have taken aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices established under the Biden administration. These policies once tied 20% of performance evaluations for foreign service officers to DEI efforts, a requirement now dismantled in what Secretary of State Marco Rubio has hailed as a groundbreaking shift.

Rubio, celebrating the overhaul, took to X to declare, “Now our incredible Foreign Service Officers will be evaluated on true merit, not on arbitrary immutable characteristics.” His statement followed a revealing post from DOGE, which spotlighted how diplomats were previously judged under the Biden-era rules. Among the criteria? Whether they steered clear of “gendered adjectives” or “faint praise” in their work.

Important and historic reforms.

Now our incredible Foreign Service Officers will be evaluated on true merit, not on arbitrary immutable characteristics. https://t.co/p8b8LBXTX8

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 7, 2025

The State Department even circulated PowerPoint slides to illustrate the old guidelines, offering examples of language pitfalls. One slide contrasted descriptions like “Dr. Sarah Gray is a caring compassionate physician” with “Dr. Joel Gray has been very successful with his patients,” flagging the former as a gendered misstep. Another discouraged lukewarm remarks such as “S/he worked hard on projects that s/he was assigned” or “S/he has never had temper tantrums,” labeling them as faint praise. The slides also cautioned against using first names for women or minorities while reserving titles for men.

DOGE’s critique didn’t stop there. It highlighted how the policy pushed local organizations to champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) through programs, training sessions, lectures, and even annual awards ceremonies. Foreign service officers faced additional pressure to enforce race and gender quotas for embassy speaking panels and diplomatic events.

“Working with DOGE, [Secretary Rubio] has ended this discrimination and restored merit to the foreign service,” DOGE proclaimed in its post. The rollback marks a significant victory for the Trump administration’s mission to purge DEI initiatives from federal operations.

This latest reform arrives hot on the heels of another cost-cutting measure: a $15 million reduction in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The cuts, aligned with DOGE and President Donald Trump’s executive orders, axed funding like $6.7 million to the California State Library for equitable library programs and $4 million to the Washington State Library for staff diversity and incarcerated support. Also on the chopping block? A $1.5 million grant to Connecticut’s state library system to “integrate social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion” into its operations, plus $700,000 for a Washington, D.C. nonprofit studying “post-pandemic DEI practices” in children’s museums.

The Trump administration’s DOGE crusade has already delivered substantial savings, with its website boasting $140 billion spared for American taxpayers—roughly $870 per person. Beyond libraries and museums, the administration has slashed hundreds of millions in DEI-related contracts, including at least $100 million from the Department of Education.

For Rubio and DOGE, these changes signal a return to merit-based priorities, stripping away what they see as wasteful and divisive policies. As the reforms ripple through government, the debate over DEI’s role in public service is far from settled—but for now, the Trump administration is doubling down on its vision of efficiency and fairness.

Do you agree with Trump and DOGE’s efforts to eliminate DEI from the federal government? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!