NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is axing jobs inside the world’s most powerful military alliance as part of a major restructuring effort.
Rutte, who took over as NATO chief last October, plans to eliminate two divisions and cut dozens of positions at headquarters in Brussels, three current NATO officials and one former senior official told POLITICO.
“He is basically DOGEing NATO,” said one official at the alliance who was granted anonymity to discuss the overhaul, making reference to the drastic Elon Musk-led drive to slim down the U.S. federal government earlier this year.
The reorganization, which has not previously been reported, comes as fears swirl that NATO-skeptic U.S. President Donald Trump could one day quit the military alliance and ahead of a crunch summit starting Tuesday in The Hague, which the American leader is slated to attend.
The reforms also take place against a complex geopolitical and defense backdrop, with wars convulsing Ukraine and the Middle East, and the Trump administration repeatedly warning that the U.S. could take a back seat in future when it comes to Europe’s security.
When Rutte took the reins from Jens Stoltenberg last year after the latter’s decade-long tenure in charge, he used his inaugural speech to announce there was “work to do” to better NATO. “It is my job to ensure that … we continue to adapt our alliance to a more complex world,” he said.
The former Dutch prime minister has wasted little time restructuring the alliance’s bureaucracy.
He held two internal meetings with staff in recent months to announce a wave of changes, including cutting NATO’s international staff divisions from eight to six. The divisions on the chopping block are the Public Diplomacy Division, which serves as NATO’s press service, and the Executive Management Division, the alliance’s human resources department.
Their functions will largely be absorbed by the other divisions. But the assistant secretaries-general — division chiefs appointed by the secretary-general with input from the alliance’s member countries — will simply cease to exist, one official with direct knowledge confirmed to POLITICO.
The Public Diplomacy Division’s Assistant Secretary-General, Marie-Doha Besancenot from France, departed in March and has not been replaced. Italy’s Carlo Borghini, who heads the Executive Management division, will also lose his post.
Dozens of positions will ultimately be cut as part of the shake-up, another official told POLITICO, adding that the cuts don’t “seem to be significantly high” and personnel would also be hired.
“This is something that happens when you have a new secretary-general,” a former senior NATO official told POLITICO when asked about Rutte’s plans to restructure the alliance.
The former senior official said Rutte’s overhaul was not as reckless as Musk’s notorious Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which saw American federal workers fired and U.S. agencies shuttered with little or no warning, though in many cases employees were ultimately hired back.
“It’s done by people on the inside who actually understand the priorities, and existing structures and processes,” the official said. “So it’s a much more long-term, deliberate process than DOGE.”
NATO is headquartered in Brussels and employs around 4,000 people, including about 1,500 international staff whom Rutte is responsible for.
Many are temporary workers, or “temps” — often younger, junior staff on shorter contracts of six months. Two current officials told POLITICO there was a marked shift underway to reduce the number of temporary roles and make more positions permanent.
“It’s hard to have consistency if you keep going from temp to temp,” the former senior NATO official said, adding that discussions about decreasing reliance on high-turnover, short-term staff predated Rutte.
“They’re incredibly talented and dedicated people, and hopefully they’ll get a chance to apply for proper contract positions based on their experience and the fact they already hold a security clearance,” the ex-official added.
Rutte, who has been hailed as a “Trump whisperer” for his ability to charm the unpredictable U.S. president, will spend the next three and a half years trying to make sure Trump does not abandon the alliance, as he has repeatedly threatened to do.
Part of Rutte’s pitch to Trump and other allies next week will be that he can make NATO more efficient and use its resources “wisely and sparingly,” VUB Associate Professor and Egmont Senior Research Fellow Alexander Mattelaer said.
“Rutte is reshaping the supporting staff structure at headquarters in line with what he sees as the big priorities,” said Mattelaer, whose research focuses on NATO and transatlantic security, namely “reinvesting in defense and doing so as efficiently as possible.”
The secretary-general was presumably implementing his cuts “in close consultation” with the U.S., Mattelaer added.
While the reforms are “more symbolical measures” and unlikely to free up much cash, they reflect ongoing discussions between NATO countries about “how many euros and dollars one puts into the civil budget, and how many are put into the military budget.”
Speaking on behalf of the alliance, a senior NATO official asked about the staff cuts said “Secretary-General Rutte is committed to an effective and efficient NATO” and has “begun a reorganization to optimise operations of the NATO headquarters.”
“The reorganization process, which includes input from staff and has been approved by allies, is ongoing,” the official added.
The post Mark Rutte DOGEs NATO with dozens of job cuts appeared first on Politico.
