The state department has reportedly ordered its outposts around the world to cancel all subscriptions to news and media outlets that are supposedly “non-mission critical” in another extraordinary Trump administration crackdown on normal information channels.
An email memo was circulated to embassies and consulates earlier this month explaining that the move was a further effort to cut costs by the federal government, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited the 11 February directive to foreign posts as reading: “Posts are asked to immediately place Stop Work Orders on all non-mission critical contracts/purchase orders for media subscriptions (publications, periodicals, and newspaper subscriptions) that are not academic or professional journals.”
The state department did not respond to a request for comment by the Washington Post. The Guardian has submitted a request for comment.
The reported directive to cancel news subscriptions will apply at hundreds of US diplomatic offices across the globe and a state department official who asked not to be named while discussing internal departmental matters told the Post that embassy teams around the world would be hindered by having media subscriptions cut off, especially for important activities such as examining threats to US national security and arranging trips in risky areas for diplomats and staff.
The restrictions apply to outlets such as national newspapers and global news agencies.
Another reported memo, sent on 14 February, told relevant staff to make it a priority to cancel such mainstream media outlets as the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Reuters, the Post said.
Staff who object to canceling a subscription can apply to keep it but must briefly put forward strong justifications.
A state department employee who spoke anonymously to the Post described access to the news as necessary and said of the directive: “This will endanger American lives overseas because we are being cut off from news sources that are needed on a daily basis.”
