Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plans to restructure the State Department will consolidate the Office of International Religious Freedom under another office within the department, assuaging concerns that the office might be eliminated.

Those fears were stoked on Easter Sunday, after a document purporting to be a draft of an executive order detailing a proposal to eliminate the religious freedom office surfaced. Rubio on Monday called the document a “fake.”

In an official statement posted on X on Tuesday, Rubio announced plans for a “comprehensive overhaul” of the State Department. Those plans include a proposal to move the religious freedom office into the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) for “administrative and functional reasons,” a State Department spokesperson told the Register.

The overhaul is intended to reduce waste and streamline the department as well as ensure the promotion of “America’s core national interests,” according to the secretary’s statement.

“In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition,” the statement from the secretary of state said.

An organizational chart released by the State Department details plans to overhaul and consolidate offices within the department by July 1, 2025.

Under the plan, the Office of International Religious Freedom will be consolidated under a reconfigured Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), according to a State Department spokesperson speaking in response to an inquiry from the Register.

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act mandated the establishment of the office and the appointment of an ambassador-at-large for religious freedom in order to monitor abuses of religious freedom and advocate for victims of religious persecution around the world.

On April 10, President Donald Trump nominated former Rep. Mark Walker as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

According to the statement from the State Department, religious freedom will continue to be a priority for the administration.

“These are important issues that will still be led by Senate-confirmed Ambassadors-at-Large who will, as required by statute, continue to report directly to the Secretary. For administrative and functional reasons, we are placing their offices within DRL,” the State Department spokesperson said.

“This will help ensure that the promotion of religious freedom and the effort to counter antisemitism remain at the center of our human rights diplomacy, not separate,” said the spokesperson.

Among the major changes put forward is a plan to eliminate the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights.

In a post on Substack, Rubio said that office “provided a fertile environment for activists to redefine ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy’ and to pursue their projects at the taxpayer expense, even when they were in direct conflict with the goals of the Secretary, the President, and the American people.”

“Until now, overlapping mandates paired with conflicting responsibilities created an environment ripe for ideological capture and meaningless turf wars,” he wrote.

Rubio also singled out the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (which will oversee the religious freedom office) for criticism.

Under the previous administration, the bureau, the secretary said, had become calling it “a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against ‘anti-woke’ leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes.”

Dede Laugesen, executive director for Save the Persecuted Christians, a U.S. non-profit engaged in defending religious freedom for Christians at home and abroad, told the Register she was relieved to learn that the religious freedom office would not be eliminated.

“Secretary Rubio’s historic proposal outlining significant changes at the U.S. Department of State is both welcome and worrisome,” said Laugesen. She said that human rights and religious freedom advocates had “held their breath” over the weekend when word spread about the draft document calling for the elimination of the religious freedom office.

“Thankfully once the real news broke, it quickly became apparent that President Trump is not abandoning his long-standing support for religious freedom and its promotion in U.S. diplomacy she said.”

She added that she looks forward to working with the new religious freedom ambassador-at-large once he is confirmed. “Many dire situations globally urgently require his attention,” she said.