Day 6 of reading and sharing my notes on Project 2025 (the long title is Mandate for Leadership 2024: The Conservative Promise, in case you're searching for it). Here’s my approach and why I’m doing this.

We're still in "Chapter 2: Executive Office of the President of the United States" by Russ Vought (I explained his bio on the previous post). This is in the first section of the document, "Taking the Reins of Government."

SUMMARY

This section is on the National Security Council, and Vought starts with explaining what the NSC does. In keeping with what has come before, Vought says the National Security Advisor "should immediately evaluate and eliminate directorates that are not aligned with the President's agenda and replace them with new directorates as appropriate that can drive implementation of the President's signature national security priorities." Throughout the document, the authors are arguing for getting rid of career officials and replacing them with political appointees. This section is no different.

Vought says the NSC should work with the National Economic Council and OMB "to achieve the President's goals and drawing on the latter's statutory authorities to guide the bureaucracy."

He says NSC staff should reduce the number of positions that need high-level clearances and should be "authorized to adjudicate and hold security clearances internally with investigators who work directly for the NSC and whose sole task is to clear NSC officials.

MY OPINION

I wonder who does the clearances now and why they want to change it. This section is again showing me how little I know about the inner workings of presidential administrations. I wish I had time to look for experts in these various fields to tell me exactly what these proposed changes mean. I'll try to follow up on any bits that seem especially important.

SUMMARY

He says NSC should lead the drafting and review of "all formal strategies," particularly the National Defense Strategy, which he says "by tradition has evaded significant review."

**-The NSC should rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense matters, including climate change, critical race theory, manufactured extremism, and other polarizing policies that weaken our armed forces and discourage our nation's finest men and women from enlisting to serve in defense of our liberty."

MY OPINION

Lots of the document seems to be about getting rid of ideas the authors see as liberal in all parts of the federal government. But I think there is a variety of thought among conservatives about things like race and climate change. And I'd like to see some data that says young people aren't enlisting in the military because of liberal ideology.

SUMMARY

Again, "the NSC should be properly resourced with sufficient policy professionals, and the NSA should prioritize staffing the vast majority of NSC directorates with aligned political appointees and trusted career officials."

**-"For instance, the NSA should return all nonessential details to their home agencies on their first day in office so that the new Administration can proceed efficiently without the personnel land minds left by the previous stewards and as soon as possible should replace all essential details with staff aligned to the new President's priorities."

MY OPINION

That sounds chaotic to me.

SUMMARY

Vought says the resistance caused by those who "have an agenda" or "jealously guard their resources and autonomy" can be "inadvertently enabled by a small and unempowered NSC."

MY OPINION

Small government doesn't apply to the NSC.

SUMMARY

Vought says the NSC should have its own legal counsel.

New section on the National Economic Council. Vought explains the role of the NEC and says it should have policy experts on pressing issues including taxes, energy and environment, agriculture, antitrust and competition policy, and retirement programs. He advocates the NEC working with other offices in the Executive Office of the President.

"In the past, there has been tension among the DPC, NEC, and NSC over jurisdiction. It is important to set clear jurisdictions at the start of an Administration to prevent needless and counterproductive turf fights."

MY OPINION

Interesting little insight. Wonder when that was.

SUMMARY

On to "Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)" Vought explains what the USTR does. Then he moves on to China, whose "predatory trade practices have disrupted the open-market trading system that has provided mutual benefit to all participating countries--including China--for decades." He says the U.S. must favor democratic nations "that embrace free, fair, and open trade principles built on market-drive economies."

Vought says the next president should make sure the USTR doesn't allow "institutional interests to drive a fragmented trade policy" and also shouldn't cater to special interests in D.C.

MY OPINION

It's nice to see Vought address special interests, and I think if we're trading with China, we need to hold them accountable for human rights, even if that means our prices go up.

SUMMARY

The next section covers the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Vought explains the role of the CEA and says its role has "diminished over time as its policy appraisal and especially formulation and recommendation functions have been taken over or diluted by other economic policy bodies within the White House." Vought compares the CEA to the White House Counsel's office and says its members should have unique expertise. Its job isn't to create policy but to make sure that the policies have sound economic underpinnings and to make sure policies don't have unintended economic consequences.

Vought argues that members should change with the presidential year rather than the academic one, which has been tradition.

MY OPINION

This is a familiar refrain. No holdovers from the previous administration.

SUMMARY

On to the National Space Council (NSPC). This is an area where Vought argues for continuity because "long-term policy stability is crucial to investors, innovators, industry, and agencies. ... Policy stability is easier when policies and programs are aligned with long-term national interests as opposed to hose of particular advocacy groups or political factions."

He says its most important role is "accelerating the acquisition and fielding of national security space capabilities in response to an increasingly aggressive China."

MY OPINION

Interesting how continuity is important here but not in other areas. And I didn't know this council is usually under the vice president's jurisdiction. Interesting.

SUMMARY

He says good relationships between NSPC and other White House offices are critical.

I'll stop there for today. Next up: Office of Science and Technology Policy. (Yes, we'll still be in Chapter 2. It's a long one.)