DOGE eliminates 68 percent of State Department Bureau of Energy Resources staff before Iran war

DOGE eliminates or reassigns 68 percent of staff at the State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources between January and February 2026 — weeks before Operation Epic Fury begins on February 28, 2026. ENR is the bureau responsible for U.S. energy diplomacy, including coordinating allied responses to oil supply disruptions. Former ENR officials tell reporters the bureau lacks the capacity to mount a coordinated response to the Strait of Hormuz blockade when it begins. No Senate-confirmed replacement leadership is in place. The cuts are made by executive action without congressional approval. ENR had coordinated the allied response to the 2022 Russian energy crisis and the 2023 OPEC production cuts. The result: the U.S. enters a war that immediately triggers a global energy crisis without the diplomatic bureau designed to manage such crises.