Michelle Kellerman

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington.

Earlier this year, Trump named 12 high-risk countries banning or restricting their nationals from coming to the U.S.

Now five more countries are being added to the list.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.

According to a White House proclamation, the administration is also banning anyone holding documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

It's also imposing partial restrictions on 15 other countries, including Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire, whose teams will be playing in the World Cup next year.

The White House says there are carve-outs for athletes and diplomats or individuals whose entry, quote, serves U.S.

national interests.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington.

The president of the American Foreign Service Association, John Dinkelman, calls it a dire situation.

Ninety-eight percent of the Foreign Service officers surveyed reported low morale, and 86 percent said the Trump administration's changes have affected their ability to advance U.S.

diplomatic priorities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's been streamlining what he calls a bloated bureaucracy.

He dismantled the U.S.

Agency for International Development and then laid off another 1,300 State Department employees in July.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.

The American Foreign Service Association says it is appalled that the State Department decided to finalize the separation of Foreign Service members this Friday.

It says the move, quote, flies in the face of the current funding law, which prohibits layoffs while the government is operating on a continuing resolution.

The State Department argues that it has the right to do this because the reduction in force started well before the government shutdown.

Officials cite legal opinions by the OMB's general counsel.