The U.S. Department of State is eliminating its Office of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) as part of a sweeping round of layoffs affecting more than 1,350 employees that began on Friday, Raw Story has learned.

Raw Story revealed the threat to CVE in May, as the Trump administration pressed for mass layoffs in the federal government. The layoffs were paused by court challenges but this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favor.

The six CVE employees, who led the department’s international efforts to prevent violent extremists from radicalizing and inspiring acts of violence, are all being terminated, William Braniff, executive director of the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab at American University, told Raw Story.

“Eliminating the CVE office from the Department of State undermines our layered defense, allowing threats to get much closer to home before we have a chance to minimize them,” Braniff said.

“It decreases our ability to support upstream terrorism prevention programs overseas, making international terrorist recruitment easier. It decreases our ability to support rehabilitation programs, including for children born to the ISIS movement, making international terrorist ‘retention’ easier.”

Braniff was previously director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security, considered a “sister office” of CVE. He resigned in March, after the Trump administration began to dismantle the office.
Shuttering CVE flies in the face of Trump administration priorities, Braniff added.