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1. GDA-0 Project 2025 PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION PROJECT Β© 2023 by The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 546-4400 | heritage.org All rights reserved. .

2. GDA-53 Executive Vice President Derrick Morgan, Chief of Staff Wesley Coopersmith, Associate Director of Project 2025 Spencer Chretien, and Thomas A. .

3. GDA-62 Anthony Pro-Life America Texas Public Policy Foundation Teneo Network Young America's Foundation The 2025 Presidential Transition Project A NOTE ON "PROJECT 2025" We want you! The 2025 Presidential Transition Project is the conservative movement's unified effort to be ready for the next conservative Administration to govern at 12:00 noon, January 20, 2025. .

4. GDA-65 Indeed, one set of eyes reading these passages will be those of the 47th President of the United States, and we hope every other reader will join in making the incoming Administration a success. .

5. GDA-66 History teaches that a President's power to implement an agenda is at its apex during the Administration's opening days. .

6. GDA-68 In recent election cycles, presidential candidates normally began transition planning in the late spring of election year or even after the party's nomination was secured. .

7. GDA-72 The entirety of this effort is to support the next conservative President, whoever he or she may be. .

8. GDA-73 In the winter of 1980, the fledging Heritage Foundation handed to President-elect Ronald Reagan the inaugural Mandate for Leadership. .

9. GDA-74 This collective work by conservative thought leaders and former government hands --- most of whom were not part of Heritage --- set out policy prescriptions, agency by agency for the incoming President. .

10. GDA-92 l Pillar I --- this volume --- puts in one place a consensus view of how major federal agencies must be governed and where disagreement exists brackets out these differences for the next President to choose a path. .

11. GDA-94 These recommendations will then be collated and shared with the President-elect's team, greatly streamlining the appointment process. .

12. GDA-95 l Pillar III is the Presidential Administration Academy, an online educational system taught by experts from our coalition. .

13. GDA-98 l In Pillar IV --- the Playbook --- we are forming agency teams and drafting transition plans to move out upon the President's utterance of "so help me God." As Americans living at the approach of our nation's 250th birthday, we have been given much. .

14. GDA-125 Previously, Burton was General Counsel at the National Small Business Association; a partner in the Argus Group; Vice President, Finance, and General Counsel for New England Machinery; and manager of the U.S. .

15. GDA-157 Rick Dearborn served as Deputy Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of five separate departments of the Executive Office of the President. .

16. GDA-158 He also served as Executive Director of the 2016 President-elect Donald Trump transition team. .

17. GDA-161 Between his two tours in Senator Sessions' office, he was appointed by President George W. .

18. GDA-171 He was President Ronald Reagan's first-term Office of Personnel Management Director when The Washington Post labeled him "Reagan's Terrible Swift Sword of the Civil Service" for cutting bureaucracy and reducing spending by billions of dollars. .

19. GDA-176 Diana worked in senior roles in the White House under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. .

20. GDA-193 Gene Hamilton is Vice-President and General Counsel of America First Legal Foundation. .

21. GDA-202 Karen Kerrigan is President and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and has helped to strengthen U.S. .

22. GDA-206 Dennis Dean Kirk is Associate Director for Personnel Policy with the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at The Heritage Foundation. .

23. GDA-209 He served in President George Bush's Administration in the U.S. .

24. GDA-211 During the Trump Administration, Dennis served in senior positions at the Office of Personnel Management and was nominated by President Trump to be Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board. .

25. GDA-212 Kent Lassman is President and CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. .

26. GDA-237 State Department and was appointed by President Donald Trump to perform the duties of the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs. .

27. GDA-238 She also served as Vice President of Legal, Compliance, and Risk at the U.S. .

28. GDA-240 Peter Navarro holds a PhD in economics from Harvard and was one of only three senior White House officials to serve with Donald Trump from the 2016 campaign to the end of the President's first term. .

29. GDA-247 He was an attorney on Capitol Hill, a senior official for President Ronald Reagan, and leader of the Bureau of Land Management for President Donald Trump. .

30. GDA-248 For 30 years, he was president of Mountain States Legal Foundation where he argued and won cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. .

31. GDA-256 Roger Severino is Vice President of Domestic Policy at The Heritage Foundation. .

32. GDA-262 Skinner is President and CEO of the Foundation for America and the World, Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy, W. .

33. GDA-271 He helped to craft the policy framework for President-elect Trump's transition team and served as the Senior Policy Adviser for National Security and Veterans Affairs to Senator Richard Burr from 2010 to 2015. .

34. GDA-276 He is a former member of President Donald Trump's Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. .

35. GDA-280 Russ Vought is Founder and President of the Center for Renewing America. .

36. GDA-281 A longtime conservative leader on Capitol Hill, Russ served in President Trump's Cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he oversaw the implementation of the presidential budget, key policies on deregulation, and a landmark effort to eliminate critical race theory and other radical ideologies in executive agencies. .

37. GDA-288 Walton served in President-elect Donald Trump's transition team as Agency Action Leader for all the federal economic agencies. .

38. GDA-290 He is the immediate past President of the Council for National Policy. .

39. GDA-294 Before rejoining Heritage in 2018, Paul was Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Director of Budget Policy at the White House. .

40. GDA-295 During the 2016 presidential transition, he led the team responsible for the Office of Management and Budget. .

41. GDA-299 EDITORS Paul Dans is Director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at The Heritage Foundation, organizing policy and personnel recommendations and training for appointees in the next presidential Administration. .

42. GDA-314 The policy views and reform proposals herein are not an all-inclusive catalogue of conservative ideas for the next President, nor is there unanimity among the contributors or the organizations with which they are affiliated with regard to the recommendations. .

43. GDA-374 THE CONSERVATIVE PROMISE This volume --- The Conservative Promise --- is the opening salvo of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, launched by The Heritage Foundation and our many partners in April 2022. .

44. GDA-378 Contributors include former elected officials, world-renowned economists, and veterans from four presidential Administrations. .

45. GDA-386 4. Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely --- what our Constitution calls "the Blessings of Liberty." What makes these four pieces of the conservative promise so valuable to the next President is that they cut through superficial distractions and focus on the moral and foundational challenges America faces in this moment of history. .

46. GDA-393 His platform in the culture wars? The "community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom." This book --- and Project 2025 as a whole --- will arm the next conservative President with the same kind of strategic clarity, but for a new age. .

47. GDA-394 PROMISE #1: RESTORE THE FAMILY AS THE CENTERPIECE OF AMERICAN LIFE AND PROTECT OUR CHILDREN. .

48. GDA-395 The next conservative President must get to work pursuing the true priority of politics --- the well-being of the American family. .

49. GDA-416 Furthermore, the next conservative President must understand that using government alone to respond to symptoms of the family crisis is a dead end. .

50. GDA-424 The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. .

51. GDA-435 That is, of course, the best argument for universal school choice --- a goal all conservatives and conservative Presidents must pursue. .

52. GDA-442 But the pro-family promises expressed in this book, and central to the next conservative President's agenda, must go much further than the traditional, narrow definition of "family issues." Every threat to family stability must be confronted. .

53. GDA-453 In particular, the next conservative President should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support while deploying existing federal powers to protect innocent life and vigorously complying with statutory bans on the federal funding of abortion. .

54. GDA-456 In summary, the next President has a moral responsibility to lead the nation in restoring a culture of life in America again. .

55. GDA-457 PROMISE #2: DISMANTLE THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE AND RETURN SELF-GOVERNANCE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. .

56. GDA-475 That distinction belongs to the "Administrative State," the dismantling of which must a top priority for the next conservative President. .

57. GDA-486 The federal government is growing larger and less constitutionally accountable --- even to the President --- every year. .

58. GDA-491 The Administrative State holds 100 percent of its power at the sufferance of Congress, and its insulation from presidential discipline is an unconstitutional fairy tale spun by the Washington Establishment to protect its turf. .

59. GDA-495 The President cannot hide behind the agencies; as his many executive orders make clear, his is the responsibility for the regulations that threaten American communities, schools, and families. .

60. GDA-496 A conservative President must move swiftly to do away with these vast abuses of presidential power and remove the career and political bureaucrats who fuel it. .

61. GDA-501 As monolithic as the Left's institutional power appears to be, it originates with appropriations from Congress and is made complete by a feckless President. .

62. GDA-502 A conservative President must look to the legislative branch for decisive action. .

63. GDA-504 But in the meantime, there are many executive tools a courageous conservative President can use to handcuff the bureaucracy, push Congress to return to its constitutional responsibility, restore power over Washington to the American people, bring the Administrative State to heel, and in the process defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America. .

64. GDA-506 Finally, the President can restore public confidence and accountability to our most important government function of all: national defense. .

65. GDA-508 The next conservative President must end the Left's social experimentation with the military, restore warfighting as its sole mission, and set defeating the threat of the Chinese Communist Party as its highest priority. .

66. GDA-509 The next conservative President must possess the courage to relentlessly put the interests of the everyday American over the desires of the ruling elite. .

67. GDA-514 A President who refuses to do so and uses his or her office to reimpose constitutional authority over federal policymaking can begin to correct decades of corruption and remove thousands of bureaucrats from the positions of public trust they have so long abused. .

68. GDA-515 PROMISE #3: DEFEND OUR NATION'S SOVEREIGNTY, BORDERS, AND BOUNTY AGAINST GLOBAL THREATS. .

69. GDA-529 university president or Wall Street hedge fund manager has more in common with a socialist, European head of state than with the parents at a high school football game in Waco, Texas. .

70. GDA-585 A casual reader might take the last few pages as surveying a broad array of challenges facing the American people and the next conservative President: supranational policymaking, border security, globalization, engagement with China, manufacturing, Big Tech, and Beijing-compromised colleges. .

71. GDA-596 The next conservative President should go beyond merely defending America's energy interests but go on offense, asserting them around the world. .

72. GDA-604 And it would clarify our intentions to Beijing that the next President can ensure that a large part of America's reindustrialization is in the production of the equipment we will need to dissuade future foreign meddling with U.S. .

73. GDA-606 PROMISE #4 SECURE OUR GOD-GIVEN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO ENJOY "THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY." The Declaration of Independence famously asserted the belief of America's Founders that "all men are created equal" and endowed with God-given rights to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." It's the last --- "the pursuit of Happiness" --- that is central to America's heroic experiment in self-government. .

74. GDA-619 So must the next conservative President look to these documents when the elites mount their next assault on liberty. .

75. GDA-622 But the next conservative President should be proud, not ashamed of Americans' unique culture of social equality and ordered liberty. .

76. GDA-626 And the next conservative President should champion the dynamic genius of free enterprise against the grim miseries of elite-directed socialism. .

77. GDA-651 The next President should promote pro-growth economic policies that spur new jobs and investment, higher wages, and productivity. .

78. GDA-654 Just as important as expanding opportunities for workers and small businesses, the next President should crack down on the crony capitalist corruption that enables America's largest corporations to profit through political influence rather than competitive enterprise and customer satisfaction. .

79. GDA-660 The next conservative President must defend our First Amendment rights. .

80. GDA-677 The next conservative President will enter office on January 20, 2025, with a simple choice: greatness or failure. .

81. GDA-679 The Conservative Promise represents the best effort of the conservative movement in 2023 --- and the next conservative President's last opportunity to save our republic. .

82. GDA-689 Section One TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT A merica's Bicentennial, which culminated on July 4, 1976, was a spirited and unifying celebration of our country, its Founding, and its ideals. .

83. GDA-698 Highlighting this need, former director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought writes in Chapter 2, "The modern conservative President's task is to limit, control, and direct the executive branch on behalf of the American people." At the core of this goal is the work of the White House and the central personnel agencies. .

84. GDA-699 Article II of the Constitution vests all federal executive power in a President, made accountable to the citizenry through regular elections. .

85. GDA-700 Our Founders wrote, "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Accordingly, Vought writes, "it is the President's agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies," not their own. .

86. GDA-704 What's more, knowledge of such rules is used to thwart the President's appointees and agenda. .

87. GDA-708 In order to carry out the President's desires, political appointees must be given the tools, knowledge, and support to overcome the federal government's obstructionist Human Resources departments. .

88. GDA-714 Empowering political appointees across the Administration is crucial to a President's success. .

89. GDA-715 Above all, the President and those who serve under him or her must be committed to the Constitution and the rule of law. .

90. GDA-716 This is particularly true of a conservative Administration, which knows that the President is there to uphold the Constitution, not the other way around. .

91. GDA-718 In Chapter 1, former deputy chief of staff to the President Rick Dearborn writes that the White House Counsel "must take seriously the duty to protect the powers and privileges of the President from encroachments by Congress, the judiciary, and the administrative components of departments and agencies." Equally important, the President must enforce the Constitution and laws as written, rather than proclaiming new "law" unilaterally. .

92. GDA-719 Presidents should not issue mask or vaccine mandates, arbitrarily transfer student loan debt, or issue monarchical mandates of any sort. .

93. GDA-724 Political appointees who are answerable to the President and have decision-making authority in the executive branch are key to this essential task. .

94. GDA-726 The following chapters detail how the next Administration can be responsive to the American people (not to entrenched "elites"); how it can take care that all the laws are "faithfully executed," not merely those that the President desires to see executed; and how it can achieve results and not be stymied by an unelected bureaucracy. .

95. GDA-729 But like nearly everything else in life, there is no substitute for firsthand experience, which this manual has compiled from the experience of presidential appointees and provides in accessible form for future use. .

96. GDA-731 The Constitution gives the "executive Power" to the President.1 It designates him as "Commander in Chief"2 and gives him the responsibility to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."3 It further prescribes that the President might seek the assistance of "the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments."4 Beginning with George Washington, every President has been supported by some form of White House office consisting of direct staff officers as well as a Cabinet comprised of department and agency heads. .

97. GDA-732 Since the inaugural Administration of the late 18th century, citizens have chosen to devote both their time and their talent to defending and strengthening our nation by serving at the pleasure of the President. .

98. GDA-734 The President must rely on the men and women appointed to the WHO. .

99. GDA-737 Their agenda must therefore be the President's agenda. .

100. GDA-738 Choosing who will carry out that agenda on a daily basis is not only one of the first decisions a President makes in office, but also one of the most critical. .

101. GDA-740 CHIEF OF STAFF As with most of the positions that will be covered in this first chapter, the Chief of Staff is also an Assistant to the President. .

102. GDA-742 Of all presidential staff members, the chief is the most critical to implementation of the President's vision for the country. .

103. GDA-743 The chief also has a dual role as manager of the staffs of both the WHO and the Executive Office of the President (EOP).5 The Chief of Staff's first managerial task is to establish an organizational chart for the WHO. .

104. GDA-746 These contacts should include the White House Liaisons who are selected by the Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO). .

105. GDA-747 Receiving guidance from the President, the chief endeavors to implement the President's agenda by setting priorities for the WHO. .

106. GDA-748 This process begins by taking stock of the President's campaign promises, identifying current and prospective opportunities, and then delegating policy priorities among the departments and agencies of the Cabinet and throughout the three White House policy councils: l The National Economic Council (NEC); l The Domestic Policy Council (DPC); and l The National Security Council (NSC). .

107. GDA-749 The President is briefed on all of his policy priorities by his Cabinet and senior staff as directed by the chief. .

108. GDA-753 All senior staff report to the Chief of Staff, either directly or through his two or three deputies, unless the President determines that a particular Assistant to the President reports directly to him. .

109. GDA-759 His use of his deputies, meetings with senior staff, and direction provided to the WHO must all balance with the daily needs of the President. .

110. GDA-762 DEPUTY CHIEFS OF STAFF In recent years, Presidents typically have appointed two Deputy Chiefs of Staff: a Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations and a Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. .

111. GDA-768 Most principal deputies have functioned as doorkeepers, sorting through action items, taking on those that can be handled at their own level, and passing up others that truly require the attention of the Chief of Staff or the President. .

112. GDA-772 The Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations oversees the President's schedule and all logistical aspects of his movement within and outside of the White House (for example, both air travel on Air Force One and Marine One and ground transportation). .

113. GDA-773 This deputy also interfaces directly with the Secret Service as well as the military offices tasked with keeping the President and his family safe. .

114. GDA-781 This deputy chief works directly with the Chief of Staff, Cabinet officers, and all three policy councils to support the development and implementation of the President's agenda. .

115. GDA-783 SENIOR ADVISERS Presidents have surrounded themselves with senior advisers whose experience and interests are not necessarily neatly defined. .

116. GDA-785 The most powerful senior advisers frequently have had a long personal relationship with the President and often have spent a significant amount of time with him within and outside of the White House. .

117. GDA-792 OFFICE OF WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL The Office of White House Counsel provides legal guidance to the President and elements of the EOP on a host of issues, including presidential powers and privileges, ethics compliance, review of clemency applications, and judicial nominations. .

118. GDA-793 The selection of White House Counsel is one of the most important decisions an incoming President will make. .

119. GDA-795 Rather, it is dedicated to guiding the President and his reports on how (within the bounds of the law) to pursue and realize the President's agenda. .

120. GDA-796 While the White House Counsel does not serve as the President's personal attorney in nonofficial matters, it is almost impossible to delineate exactly where an issue is strictly personal and has no bearing on the President's official function. .

121. GDA-797 The White House Counsel needs to be deeply committed both to the President's agenda and to affording the President proactive counsel and zealous representation. .

122. GDA-798 That individual directly advises the President as he performs the duties of the office, and this requires a relationship that is built on trust, confidentiality, and candor. .

123. GDA-802 Its staff must take seriously the duty to protect the powers and privileges of the President from encroachments by Congress, the judiciary, and the administrative components of departments and agencies. .

124. GDA-806 Here again, subordinates should be deeply committed to the President's agenda and see their role as helping to accomplish the agenda through problem solving and advocacy. .

125. GDA-807 They should not erect roadblocks out of an abundance of caution; rather, they should offer practical legal advice on how to promote the President's agenda within the bounds of the law. .

126. GDA-813 The White House Counsel also works closely with the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel to seek opinions on, for example, matters of policy development and the constitutionality of presidential power and privileges and with OLA and the DOJ Office of Legal Policy on presidential judicial nominees. .

127. GDA-814 When a new President takes office, he will need to decide expeditiously how to handle any major ongoing litigation or other pending legal matters that might present a challenge to his agenda. .

128. GDA-815 To offer guidance, the White House Counsel must get up to speed as quickly as possible on all significant ongoing legal challenges across the executive branch that might affect the new Administration's policy agenda and must be prepared at the outset of the Administration to present recommendations to the President, including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation. .

129. GDA-821 Attorneys in the Office of White House Counsel must therefore work collaboratively within the White House and the Department of Justice, relying on each other as a team, to ensure that proper legal guidance is delivered to the President. .

130. GDA-822 The President should choose a White House Counsel who is well-versed in the Constitution, administrative and regulatory law, and the inner workings of Congress and the political process. .

131. GDA-823 Instead of choosing a specialist, the President should hire a counsel with extensive experience with a wide range of complex legal subjects. .

132. GDA-824 Moreover, while a candidate with elite credentials might seem ideal, the best one will be above all loyal to the President and the Constitution. .

133. GDA-828 Because of its gatekeeping function, the position of Staff Secretary is one of extreme trust, and the individual who possesses it should be vetted to work as an "honest broker" in the President's service. .

134. GDA-831 This includes presidential decision memos; bills passed by Congress (which may be accompanied by signing or veto statements); and briefing books, reading materials, samples of constituent mail, personal mail, and drafts of speeches. .

135. GDA-832 The Staff Secretary makes certain that these materials are complete, well-ordered, and up to date before they reach the President. .

136. GDA-835 The President may have questions after reviewing incoming material, may wish to seek more information, or may demand revisions. .

137. GDA-837 One of the Staff Secretary's critical functions is managing and overseeing the clearance process for the President's daily/nightly briefing book. .

138. GDA-838 This book is filled with all the reading material and leading documentation the President needs in the morning and the evening to help him make decisions. .

139. GDA-839 The Staff Secretary also oversees the use of the President's signature, whether by hand or by autopen, and manages the Office of the Executive Clerk, Office of Records Management, and Office of Presidential Correspondence. .

140. GDA-840 OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS The Office of Communications, which operates under the Director of Communications, conveys the President's agenda to the public through various media, including speeches and remarks, press briefings, off-the-record discussions with reporters, and social media. .

141. GDA-841 Depending on how a President chooses to structure his White House, the Office of Communications may include the Office of the Press Secretary (Press Office), but no matter how it is structured, the office must work closely with the Press Office as well as the President's speechwriters and digital strategists. .

142. GDA-847 The best resource for the Office of Communications is the President. .

143. GDA-848 The President conveys the White House's overall message through one or two inaugural addresses, State of the Union addresses, speeches to Congress, and press conferences. .

144. GDA-850 The Communications Director and Press Secretary in particular should be careful to avoid contradicting the President or delivering conflicting information. .

145. GDA-852 Speechwriting is a unique talent: The writers selected must understand policy, should have a firm grasp of history and other liberal-arts disciplines, and should be able to learn and adopt the President's style of rhetoric and mode of delivery. .

146. GDA-853 The Press Secretary is the President's spokesperson, communicating to the American people through the media. .

147. GDA-856 The Communications Director must convey the President's mission to the American people. .

148. GDA-857 Especially for conservatives, this means navigating the mainstream media to ensure that the President's agenda is conveyed effectively and accurately. .

149. GDA-860 OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS (OLA) Created by President Dwight Eisenhower, the OLA has continued to serve as the liaison between the White House and Congress. .

150. GDA-861 The White House must work with congressional leaders to ensure presidential nominees, for roles such as Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors, are confirmed by the Senate. .

151. GDA-862 The White House also relies on Congress to enact reforms promised by the President on the campaign trail, whether those promises relate to health care, education, or national defense. .

152. GDA-863 Because Congress holds the power of the purse, White House staffers must ensure that there is enough support on the Hill to secure the necessary funding through the appropriations process to fulfill the President's agenda. .

153. GDA-865 Regardless of the person to whom the OLA reports, however, the office exercises a certain autonomy on behalf of the President and the Chief of Staff in directly influencing congressional leaders of both major political parties. .

154. GDA-866 The OLA often must function as the mediator among the parties and find common ground to facilitate the successful enactment of the President's agenda. .

155. GDA-868 If other actors within the White House maintain their own relationships with congressional leaders and staffers, it may appear that the President's agenda is fractured and lacks consensus. .

156. GDA-869 This dynamic has caused real problems for many Presidents in the past. .

157. GDA-872 Externally, OLA staffers have to communicate continuously with congressional offices of both parties in both the House and the Senate to ensure that the President has enough support to enact his legislative priorities or sustain votes. .

158. GDA-876 Furthermore, the President should seek out individuals who can advance his agenda and at the same time forge pathways with members of the opposing political party on other priorities. .

159. GDA-878 The President cannot afford to have a tennis player on --- much less as the leader of --- his football team. .

160. GDA-879 OFFICE OF PRESIDENTIAL PERSONNEL (PPO) The political axiom that "personnel is policy" was popularized under President Ronald Reagan during the 1981 presidential transition. .

161. GDA-880 One of the most important offices in the White House is the PPO, which was created under President Richard Nixon to centralize political appointments. .

162. GDA-881 Departments and agencies had and still have direct legal authority on hiring and firing, but the power to fill Schedule C positions --- the core of political jobs --- is vested with the President. .

163. GDA-883 PPO's primary responsibility is to staff the executive branch with individuals who are equipped to implement the President's agenda. .

164. GDA-887 The Office of Presidential Personnel is responsible for: l Identifying potential political personnel both actively through recruitment and passively by fielding resumes and adjudicating requests from political actors. .

165. GDA-889 l Making recommendations to the President and to other appointment authorities on behalf of the President. .

166. GDA-891 l Maintaining a strong relationship with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) both for operational purposes and to effectuate the President's direct Title 5 authorities. .

167. GDA-892 The President is in charge of the federal workforce and exercises control principally by working through the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. .

168. GDA-896 In most Administrations, PPO will staff more than 100 positions during a transition and thousands of noncareer positions during the President's first term. .

169. GDA-897 Direct authority and a strong relationship with the President are necessary attributes for any PPO Director. .

170. GDA-902 OFFICE OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS (OPA) The OPA is the primary office within the executive branch for managing the President's political interests. .

171. GDA-903 Although its specific functions vary from Administration to Administration, the OPA typically serves as the liaison between the President and associated political entities: national committees, federal and state campaigns, and interest groups. .

172. GDA-904 Within legal guidelines, the OPA engages in outreach, conducts casework, and --- if the President is up for reelection --- assists with his campaign. .

173. GDA-905 The OPA may also monitor congressional campaigns, arrange presidential visits with other political campaigns, and recommend campaign staff to the Office of Presidential Personnel for service in the executive branch. .

174. GDA-906 The OPA further serves as a line of communication between the White House and the President's political party. .

175. GDA-907 This includes both relaying the President's ambitions to political interests and listening to the needs of political interests. .

176. GDA-911 Because nearly all White House activities are in some way inherently political, the OPA needs to be aware of all presidential actions and activities --- including travel, policy decisions, speeches, nominations, and responses to matters of national security --- and consider how they might affect the President's image. .

177. GDA-914 Most important, the OCA coordinates all Cabinet meetings with the President. .

178. GDA-920 The OCA coordinates with the Chief of Staff's office and the Office of Communications to promote the President's agenda through the Cabinet departments and agencies. .

179. GDA-922 In prior Administrations, the OCA has played a vital role by tracking the President's agenda for the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chiefs, and senior advisers. .

180. GDA-924 In the future, amplifying this function would truly benefit both the President and the conservative movement. .

181. GDA-928 Because many Cabinet officials have been former presidential candidates, governors, ambassadors, and Members of Congress, the ideal candidate should also possess the ability to interact with and persuade accomplished individuals. .

182. GDA-929 OFFICE OF PUBLIC LIAISON (OPL) The OPL is critically important in building coalitions and support for the President's agenda across every aligned social, faith-based, minority, and economic interest group. .

183. GDA-934 Since a President's agenda is always in motion, it is important for the OPL to facilitate listening sessions to receive the views of the various leaders and members of key interest groups. .

184. GDA-939 Additionally, the OPL has had an outsized role in presidential scheduling and both official and political travel. .

185. GDA-940 The OPL Director should come from the President's election campaign or Capitol Hill --- but should not have deeply entrenched connections to a K Street entity or any other potential stakeholder. .

186. GDA-960 WHITE HOUSE POLICY COUNCILS As the federal government has ballooned in size over the past century, it has become increasingly difficult for the President alone to direct his agenda across the executive branch. .

187. GDA-961 Three White House policy councils have come into existence to help the President to control the bureaucracy and ensure continued alignment between agency leadership and White House priorities. .

188. GDA-963 Each is headed by an Assistant to the President and performs three significant functions. .

189. GDA-967 This process must ensure that all relevant offices are included; that competing or conflicting opinions are thoroughly discussed and evaluated; and, when there is disagreement among White House senior staff or among Cabinet members, a well-structured question is presented to the President for an intermediate or final decision. .

190. GDA-969 By virtue of working in the White House, the heads of the three policy councils will also function as independent policy advisers to the President. .

191. GDA-970 This aspect of the role will vary depending on the individual in this position and the President's governing philosophy. .

192. GDA-971 Incumbents have ranged from "honest brokers," who mostly coordinate and ensure that all opinions are fairly presented to the President, to "policy deciders," who largely drive a given policy topic on behalf of the President. .

193. GDA-975 It is essential to have a centralized process for evaluating and coordinating these decisions, especially if they involve more than one Cabinet department or agency with differing opinions on the best approach for securing the President's goals. .

194. GDA-977 This process helps to identify differences of opinion and reach a decision without having to take every issue to the President. .

195. GDA-981 A PCC is led by a Special Assistant to the President from the policy council and includes political Assistant Secretary-level experts from the relevant departments, agencies, or offices. .

196. GDA-985 A DC is a meeting of presidentially appointed executives chaired by the policy council's Deputy Assistant to the President and relevant Deputy Secretaries. .

197. GDA-989 This is the final opportunity for the President's most senior advisers to discuss the question, make sure that each principal's position is carefully understood, and see whether consensus or a compromise might be reached. .

198. GDA-990 If not, the Chief of Staff's office will schedule time for the PC to meet with the President for a final decision. .

199. GDA-997 Unlike the other policy councils, the NSC was established by statute.8 Statutory members and advisers who are currently part of the NSC include the President and Vice President; the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Energy; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the Director of National Intelligence.9 The NSC staff, and particularly the National Security Adviser, should be vetted for foreign and security policy experience and insight. .

200. GDA-998 The National Security Adviser and NSC staff advise the President on matters of foreign policy and national security, serve as an information conduit in times of crisis, and as liaisons ensuring that written communications are properly shared among NSC members. .

201. GDA-1001 The next Administration should try to limit the number of detailees to ensure more direct presidential control. .

202. GDA-1003 The NEC was established in 1993 by executive order and has four key functions: l To "coordinate the economic policy-making process with respect to domestic and international economic issues." l To "coordinate economic policy advice to the President." l To "ensure that policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's stated goals" and "that those goals are being effectively pursued." l To "monitor implementation of the President's economic policy agenda."10 The NEC Director coordinates and implements the President's economic policy objectives by working with Cabinet secretaries, their departments, and multiple agencies. .

203. GDA-1009 The CEA is almost always led by a well-known academic economist, and the NEC is regularly led by someone with expertise in directing the President's economic policy process. .

204. GDA-1012 The Domestic Policy Council (DPC) consists of advisers to the President on noneconomic domestic policy issues as well as international issues with a significant domestic component (such as immigration). .

205. GDA-1013 It is one of the primary policy councils serving the President along with the NSC and NEC. .

206. GDA-1014 The Director serves as the principal DPC adviser to the President, along with members of the Cabinet, and the Deputy Director chairs the committee responsible for coordinating domestic policy development at the Deputy Secretary level. .

207. GDA-1016 The DPC also has policy experts (for example, Special Assistants to the President or SAPs) who are responsible for developing and coordinating, as well as for advising the President, on specific issues. .

208. GDA-1019 The DPC also needs to work closely with other offices within the Executive Office of the President to promote economic opportunity and private-sector innovation. .

209. GDA-1024 The President should establish an economic opportunity working group, chaired by the DPC Director, to coordinate the development of policies that promote economic opportunity. .

210. GDA-1027 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT (OVP) In modern U.S. .

211. GDA-1028 history, the Vice President has acted as a significant adviser to the President. .

212. GDA-1029 Once elected, the VP helps to promote and, in many instances, put into place and execute the President's agenda. .

213. GDA-1030 The President may additionally determine the inclusion of OVP staff in White House meetings, including Policy Coordinating Committee, Deputies Committee, and Principals Committee discussions as has been done in various recent Administrations. .

214. GDA-1031 Recent Presidents have decided to give Vice Presidents space in the West Wing. .

215. GDA-1032 The VP's proximity to the President --- as well as to the Chief of Staff and additional senior advisers --- makes his or her role a powerful one within the West Wing. .

216. GDA-1033 Presidents typically tap VPs to lead various Administration efforts. .

217. GDA-1035 VPs traditionally also spearhead projects of personal interest that have been authorized by the President. .

218. GDA-1037 The Vice President, as President of the Senate, could be a President's emissary to the Senate. .

219. GDA-1038 OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY/FIRST GENTLEMAN The First Lady or First Gentleman plays an interesting role in the formation, implementation, and execution of policy in concert with the President. .

220. GDA-1040 One advantage of the first spouse's taking on hot-button social issues is that any political backlash will be less severe than it would be for the President. .

221. GDA-1042 This group works exclusively with the first spouse and senior members of the White House along with EOP personnel to implement and execute the first spouse's priorities, which reflect the first spouse's passions and interests and are often identified as important in discussions with the President. .

222. GDA-1046 His or her staff also works with the President's policy team, members of the Cabinet, and other EOP staff. .

223. GDA-1047 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

224. GDA-1063 5. See Chapter 2, "Executive Office of the President," infra. .

225. GDA-1079 Later in 1949, as part of the Reorganization Plan, the Council was placed in the Executive Office of the President." The White House, "National Security Council," https://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ (accessed February 15, 2023). .

226. GDA-1080 9. See Chapter 2, "Executive Office of the President," infra. .

227. GDA-1081 10. President William J. .

228. GDA-1087 2 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES Russ Vought In its opening words, Article II of the U.S. .

229. GDA-1088 Constitution makes it abundantly clear that "[t]he executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."1 That enormous power is not vested in departments or agencies, in staff or administrative bodies, in nongovernmental organizations or other equities and interests close to the government. .

230. GDA-1089 The President must set and enforce a plan for the executive branch. .

231. GDA-1090 Sadly, however, a President today assumes office to find a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences --- or, worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly "woke" faction of the country. .

232. GDA-1091 The modern conservative President's task is to limit, control, and direct the executive branch on behalf of the American people. .

233. GDA-1092 This challenge is created and exacerbated by factors like Congress's decades-long tendency to delegate its lawmaking power to agency bureaucracies, the pervasive notion of expert "independence" that protects so-called expert authorities from scrutiny, the presumed inability to hold career civil servants accountable for their performance, and the increasing reality that many agencies are not only too big and powerful, but also increasingly weaponized against the public and a President who is elected by the people and empowered by the Constitution to govern. .

234. GDA-1094 47, James Madison warned that "[t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."2 Regrettably, that wise and cautionary note describes to a significant degree the modern executive branch, which --- whether controlled by the bureaucracy or by the President --- writes federal policy, enforces that policy, and often adjudicates whether that policy was properly drafted and enforced. .

235. GDA-1097 The great challenge confronting a conservative President is the existential need for aggressive use of the vast powers of the executive branch to return power --- including power currently held by the executive branch --- to the American people. .

236. GDA-1098 Success in meeting that challenge will require a rare combination of boldness and self-denial: boldness to bend or break the bureaucracy to the presidential will and self-denial to use the bureaucratic machine to send power away from Washington and back to America's families, faith communities, local governments, and states. .

237. GDA-1099 Fortunately, a President who is willing to lead will find in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) the levers necessary to reverse this trend and impose a sound direction for the nation on the federal bureaucracy. .

238. GDA-1100 The effectiveness of those EOP levers depends on the fundamental premise that it is the President's agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies that operate under his constitutional authority and that, as a general matter, it is the President's chosen advisers who have the best sense of the President's aims and intentions, both with respect to the policies he intends to enact and with respect to the interests that must be secured to govern successfully on behalf of the American people. .

239. GDA-1103 OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) OMB assists the President in the execution of his policy agenda across the government by employing many statutory and executive procedural levers to bring the bureaucracy in line with all budgetary, regulatory, and management decisions. .

240. GDA-1104 Properly understood, it is a President's air-traffic control system with the ability and charge to ensure that all policy initiatives are flying in sync and with the authority to let planes take off and, at times, ground planes that are flying off course. .

241. GDA-1105 OMB's key roles include: l Developing and enforcing the President's budget and executing the appropriations laws that fund the government; l Managing agency and personnel performance, procurement policy, financial management, and information technology; l Developing the President's regulatory agenda, reviewing new regulatory actions, reviewing federal information collections, and setting and enforcing federal information policy; and l Coordinating and clearing agency communications with Congress, including testimonies and views on draft legislation. .

242. GDA-1106 OMB cannot perform its role on behalf of the President effectively if it is not intimately involved in all aspects of the White House policy process and lacks knowledge of what the agencies are doing. .

243. GDA-1107 Internally to the EOP, ensuring that the policy-formulation procedures developed by the White House to serve the President include OMB is one of any OMB Director's major responsibilities. .

244. GDA-1110 The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President's mind as it pertains to the policy agenda while always being ready with actual options to effect that agenda within existing legal authorities and resources. .

245. GDA-1118 OMB can then direct on behalf of a President the amount, duration, and purpose of any apportioned funding to ensure against waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure consistency with the President's agenda and applicable laws. .

246. GDA-1121 No Director should be chosen who is unwilling to restore apportionment decision-making to the PADs' personal review, who is not aggressive in wielding the tool on behalf of the President's agenda, or who is unable to defend the power against attacks from Congress. .

247. GDA-1126 In addition, many key considerations involved in enacting a President's agenda hinge on existing legal authorities. .

248. GDA-1128 This is vital within OMB not only with respect to the adequate development of policy options for the President's review, but also with respect to agencies that attempt to protect their own institutional interests and foreclose certain avenues based on the mere assertion (and not proof) that the law disallows it or that, conversely, attempt to disregard the clear statutory commands of Congress. .

249. GDA-1130 OMB should work toward a "One OMB" position on behalf of the President and represent that view during the various policymaking processes. .

250. GDA-1133 The OMB Director should present a fiscal goal to the President early in the budget development process to address the federal government's fiscal irresponsibility. .

251. GDA-1135 Though some mistakenly regard it as a mere paper-pushing exercise, the President's budget is in fact a powerful mechanism for setting and enforcing public policy at federal agencies. .

252. GDA-1143 Because the RMOs are institutionally ingrained in nearly all policymaking and implementation across the executive branch, they play a critical role in helping the Director to implement the President's public policy agenda. .

253. GDA-1145 To enhance the OMB Director's ability to help the President drive policy at the agencies, the existing six RMOs should be divided into smaller subject-matter areas, allowing for more PADs, and each of these PADs should have a Deputy PAD. .

254. GDA-1147 Regardless of whether Congress adopts the President's full set of budget recommendations, the President should reintroduce the concept of administrative pay-as-you-go, or administrative PAYGO. .

255. GDA-1150 The principle may occasionally yield to other overarching requirements, such as a presidential regulatory budget, but in nearly all cases, administrative PAYGO plays a unique and indispensable role in enforcing fiscal responsibility at federal departments and agencies. .

256. GDA-1151 The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. .

257. GDA-1155 The Management team includes the following offices led by presidentially appointed Senate-confirmed individuals: l The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). .

258. GDA-1160 Each of these offices has responsibilities and authorities that a President can use to help drive policy across the government. .

259. GDA-1161 It is vital that the Director and his political staff, not the careerists, drive these offices in pursuit of the President's actual priorities and not let them set their own agenda based on the wishes of the sprawling "good government" management community in and outside of government. .

260. GDA-1162 Many Directors do not properly prioritize the management portfolio, leaving it to the Deputy for Management, but such neglect creates purposeless bureaucracy that impedes a President's agenda --- an "M Train to Nowhere." OFPP. .

261. GDA-1165 In the past, those governmentwide contracting rules have played a key role in helping to implement the President's policy agenda. .

262. GDA-1171 The Director should instruct OPPM to establish annual performance goals and review processes for agencies that reflect the President's agenda. .

263. GDA-1172 OPPM should also be part of the President's strategy to set and enforce sensible policies and practices for the federal workforce. .

264. GDA-1179 The office thus is an important part of the President's efforts to modernize, strengthen, and set technology-adoption policy for the executive branch. .

265. GDA-1181 Building on the example and work of the Trump Administration, President Biden established this office to centralize, carry out, and further develop the federal government's Buy-American and other Made-in-America commitments. .

266. GDA-1185 The President should maintain Executive Order (EO) 12866,4 the foundation of OIRA's review of regulatory actions. .

267. GDA-1187 Department of the Treasury.5 Regulatory analysis and OIRA review should also be required of the historically "independent" agencies as the Office of Legal Counsel has found is legally permissible.6 If the current Administration proceeds with its declared intent to modify aspects of EO 12866 or review OMB Circular A-4,7 the related document that provides the foundation for cost-benefit analysis, the next President should immediately begin to undo those changes and develop a rigorous, data-driven approach that will result in the least burdensome rules possible. .

268. GDA-1188 The next President should also revive the directive in Executive Order 138918 that significant guidance documents also must pass through OIRA review. .

269. GDA-1195 The next President should also reinstate the many executive orders signed by President Trump that were designed to make the regulatory process more just, efficient, and transparent. .

270. GDA-1198 Additionally, the President should revise and sign an updated version of President Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 1263018 on federal takings. .

271. GDA-1199 The next President should strengthen implementation of the Information Quality Act,19 robustly use the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act,20 carefully enforce the Privacy Act,21 and ensure the sound execution of OIRA's statistical and other information policy functions. .

272. GDA-1203 The next President should work with Congress to pass significant regulatory policy and process reforms, which could go a long way toward reining in the administrative state. .

273. GDA-1204 Excellent examples of such legislation include the Regulatory Accountability Act,23 SMART Act,24 GOOD Act,25 Early Participation in Regulations Act,26 Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act,27 and REINS Act.28 Finally, the next President should work with Congress to maximize the utility of the Congressional Review Act (CRA),29 which allows Congress to undo midnight regulatory actions (including those disguised as "guidance") on an accelerated timeline. .

274. GDA-1205 To leverage the CRA's power to the maximum extent, Congress and the President should enact the Midnight Rules Relief Act,30 which would help to ensure that multiple regulatory actions could be packaged and voted on at the same time. .

275. GDA-1206 Immediate and robust use of the CRA would allow the President to focus his rulemaking resources on major new regulatory reforms rather than devoting months or years to undoing the final rulemakings of the Biden Administration. .

276. GDA-1210 NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (NSC) The National Security Council (NSC) was established by statute to support the President in developing and implementing national security policy by coordinating across relevant departments and agencies, integrating authorities and resources toward common ends, and objectively assessing progress toward established goals. .

277. GDA-1211 Led by the National Security Advisor (NSA), the NSC staff will be successful in implementing the President's national security goals only if it is made up of personnel with technical expertise and experience as well as an alignment to the President's declared national security policy priorities. .

278. GDA-1212 The NSC must then chart a course that articulates and achieves the President's national security goals and objectives. .

279. GDA-1213 The President should empower a strong NSC that not only has the power to convene the policy process, but also is entrusted with the full power of the presidency to drive the bureaucracy. .

280. GDA-1214 In organizing (by means of Presidential Directive31) an NSC staff that is more responsive and aligned with the President's goals and empowered to implement them, the NSA 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. .

281. GDA-1215 In addition to realigning the staff organization to the President's priorities, the NSA should assign responsibility for implementation of specific policy initiatives to senior NSC officials from across the NSC staff structure. .

282. GDA-1217 Aligning NSC staff to the President's national security goals will provide clearer direction, a mandate for action, and a baseline of accountability that can be used to evaluate staff performance and the NSC's overall progress. .

283. GDA-1219 They should provide policy analysis for consideration by the broader NSC and relevant agencies and ensure timely responses to decisions made by the President. .

284. GDA-1221 The NSC staff and principals should work in tandem with the National Economic Council and OMB at all levels, presenting a united effort to achieve the President's goals and drawing on the latter's statutory authorities to guide the bureaucracy. .

285. GDA-1225 The accountable senior officials should be empowered to identify, recruit, clear, and hire staff who are aligned with and willing to shepherd the President's national security priorities. .

286. GDA-1230 Both should also conduct reviews of operational war plans and global force planning and allocations with the Secretary of Defense to align them with presidential priorities and review all key policy and guidance intended for implementation by the heads of the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Intelligence Community before they are authorized for distribution. .

287. GDA-1234 For instance, the NSA should return all nonessential detailees to their home agencies on their first day in office so that the new Administration can proceed efficiently without the personnel land mines left by the previous stewards and as soon as possible should replace all essential detailees with staff aligned to the new President's priorities. .

288. GDA-1236 In the end, change requires intervention, and the NSC staff should be appropriately recruited, manned, and empowered to achieve the President's national security and foreign policy objectives and maintain robust policy analysis and discussion while minimizing resistance from those who have an agenda or who jealously guard their resources and autonomy at the expense of national security and sound policy development. .

289. GDA-1238 Additionally, the White House Chief of Staff and NSA must ensure that the NSC is functioning in tandem with the rest of the White House staff to benefit from the best strategic thinking of the President's top advisers. .

290. GDA-1239 History shows that an unsupervised NSC staff can stray from its statutory role and adversely affect a President and his policies. .

291. GDA-1241 For instance, the NSC needs its own counsel to inform what legal options can be provided to the President. .

292. GDA-1242 The White House Counsel should be part of that policy process as the President's top legal adviser. .

293. GDA-1243 These recommendations provide a clear road map for rapidly sizing and solidifying the NSC staff to support and achieve the President's objectives beginning on Inauguration Day. .

294. GDA-1244 NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL (NEC) The National Economic Council is one of the policy councils serving the President along with the NSC and the Domestic Policy Council (DPC). .

295. GDA-1245 The Director serves as principal adviser to the President on domestic and international economic policy and communicates the President's economic message to the media. .

296. GDA-1249 The NEC's policy process is also used to determine whether the President should support or oppose legislation passed by Congress. .

297. GDA-1250 In addition to its leadership, the NEC has policy experts (for example, Special Assistants to the President or SAPs) who are responsible for developing and coordinating, as well as advising the President, on specific issues. .

298. GDA-1255 The NEC needs to work closely with other offices within the Executive Office of the President to promote innovation by the private sector and create an environment that will stimulate economic activity while reducing federal spending and debt. .

299. GDA-1262 It will be especially important for the NEC to work seamlessly with the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), which provides the President and the White House offices with the latest economic data and forecasts, as well as estimates of the economic impact of proposed policies, and prepares the annual Economic Report of the President. .

300. GDA-1265 The NEC works closely with the White House Office of Communications and Office of Speechwriting to ensure that the White House's messaging and media engagement communicate the President's economic policy effectively. .

301. GDA-1266 The NEC also plays a key role in advancing the President's economic agenda by advising the Office of Presidential Personnel on appointments to key economic posts, including positions in financial regulatory agencies. .

302. GDA-1267 The NEC helps to ensure that each economic post is held by a person who shares the President's policy priorities and works well with the rest of the Administration's economic team. .

303. GDA-1275 Trade Representative provides the President with the internal White House resources necessary to formulate and execute a unified, whole-of-government approach to trade policy. .

304. GDA-1276 The President should ensure that the USTR is empowered to serve in that leadership role, much as other EOP components organize and drive a coordinated policy agenda on behalf of the President. .

305. GDA-1280 Chapter 26 of this book outlines recommended trade policy priorities for the incoming President. .

306. GDA-1281 However, regardless of the approach, successful implementation of that trade agenda will require the President to articulate a clear policy direction and instructions for the executive branch to operate in a coordinated fashion under the leadership of an empowered USTR. .

307. GDA-1282 To address these and other challenges, protect the American worker, and secure free and open markets for our communities and businesses, the next President must leverage the institutional resources and strength of the USTR and neither allow institutional interests to drive a fragmented trade policy that is developed from the ground up nor cater to parochial interests across government and Washington's broader industry of influence. .

308. GDA-1284 In order to achieve the President's policy goals, a strong USTR must be empowered to set trade policy from the White House with the authority and resources to represent the interests of the President's trade agenda with adequate budget, staff, analysis, and expertise to engage meaningfully in internal and interagency policy deliberations. .

309. GDA-1285 The USTR should organize and harness existing interagency trade committees to serve the President's trade agenda and drive a consensus among federal stakeholders, dispose of legacy advisory committees with members who serve special interests, direct action to implement policy priorities, measure progress toward implementing the President's agenda, and hold agencies and officials accountable for delivering the President's agenda. .

310. GDA-1286 The USTR's leadership should not only coordinate and enforce the President's agenda across the federal community, but also set and enforce the President's trade agenda internally. .

311. GDA-1287 Trade policy and priorities should be set by the President and implemented by the U.S. .

312. GDA-1291 COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS (CEA) Congress established the Council of Economic Advisers in 1946 to advise the President on economic policy based on data, research, and evidence. .

313. GDA-1293 The CEA has one presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed chair, two presidentially appointed members who assist and often have expertise that complements the chair, and approximately 40 staff employees. .

314. GDA-1294 Statutorily, the CEA is charged with being the President's principal source of economic advice. .

315. GDA-1296 By law, the CEA is required to publish an annual Economic Report of the President within 10 days after submission of the budget. .

316. GDA-1304 Senior economists traditionally have not gone through the Office of Presidential Personnel process and more often than not are hired on an academic-year cycle. .

317. GDA-1305 As a result, senior economists hired in the summer of a presidential election year tend to remain on staff until the next summer even if a President from the opposite party takes power and installs a new slate of CEA political appointees for chair, members, etc. .

318. GDA-1307 A future Administration should consider hiring that reflects the White House calendar (mid-January) and involves the Office of Presidential Personnel. .

319. GDA-1308 NATIONAL SPACE COUNCIL (NSPC) The National Space Council is responsible for providing advice and recommendations to the President on the formulation and implementation of space policy and strategy. .

320. GDA-1310 Historically, it has been chaired by the Vice President at the President's direction, and its members consist of members of the Cabinet and other senior executive branch officials as specified by the President in Executive Order 13803.32 The NSpC's purpose is to ensure that the President's priorities relative to space are carried out and, as necessary, to resolve policy conflicts among departments and agencies that are related to space. .

321. GDA-1318 The Vice President should have a clear understanding with the National Security Advisor and the White House Counsel that they and their respective staffs will work within the White House to determine the scope and leadership of policy reviews that can overlap multiple areas of responsibility. .

322. GDA-1320 As a result of the President's direction and the Vice President's leadership, the NSpC under the Trump Administration was able to coordinate a wide range of space policy reviews, legislative proposals, and regulatory reforms smoothly. .

323. GDA-1330 Teamwork between the NSpC and OMB staff can communicate clear presidential priorities to departments and agencies, facilitating smooth development of the President's budget request. .

324. GDA-1331 The NSpC and OMB have many opportunities to collaborate in promoting presidential priorities while finding offsets in lower-priority programs and funding lines. .

325. GDA-1332 OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY (OSTP) The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was created by the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976.33 Before its creation, Presidents received their advice and counsel on such matters through advisers and boards that had no statutory authority. .

326. GDA-1333 The Director of OSTP is one of the few Senate-confirmed positions within the Executive Office of the President. .

327. GDA-1334 Consistent with other laws, the President may delegate to the Director of OSTP directive authority over other elements of the executive branch. .

328. GDA-1335 Other EOP policy officials and organizations such as the NSC and NEC are formally only advisory with relevant agency directives issued by the President. .

329. GDA-1336 The OSTP's functions, as contained in the law, are to advise the President of scientific and technological considerations, evaluate the effectiveness of the federal effort, and generally lead and coordinate the federal government's R&D programs. .

330. GDA-1337 If science is being manipulated at the agencies to support separate political and institutional agendas, the President should increase the prominence of the OSTP's Director either formally or informally. .

331. GDA-1344 Under President Trump, IOTF priorities were artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced communications/5G, advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology. .

332. GDA-1345 Under President Biden, this list has been expanded to include advanced materials, robotics, battery technology, cybersecurity, green products and clean technology, plant genetics and agricultural technologies, nanotechnology, and semiconductor and microelectronics technologies. .

333. GDA-1349 The President should also issue an executive order to reshape the U.S. .

334. GDA-1351 The USGCRP produces strategic plans and research (for example, the National Climate Assessment) that reduce the scope of legally proper options in presidential decision-making and in agency rulemakings and adjudications. .

335. GDA-1355 The next President should critically analyze and, if required, refuse to accept any USGCRP assessment prepared under the Biden Administration. .

336. GDA-1356 The President should also restore related EOP research components to their purely informational and advisory roles. .

337. GDA-1365 The President should instruct the CEQ to rewrite its regulations implementing NEPA along the lines of the historic 2020 effort and restoring its key provisions such as banning the use of cumulative impact analysis. .

338. GDA-1367 The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), of which the CEQ is a part, has been empowered by Congress through significant new funding and amendments to FAST-41.38 The President should build on this foundation to further empower the FPISC by making its Executive Director an EOP appointee with delegated presidential directive authority over executive branch permitting agencies. .

339. GDA-1369 The new President should seek to issue a new executive order to create a unified process for major infrastructure projects that includes giving project proponents more control of any regulatory clocks. .

340. GDA-1370 The President should issue an executive order establishing a Senior Advisor to coordinate the policy development and implementation of relevant energy and environment policy by officials across the EOP (for example, the policy staff of the NSC, NEC, DPC, CEQ, and OSTP) and abolishing the existing Office of Domestic Climate Policy. .

341. GDA-1374 The President should eliminate the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), which is cochaired by the OSTP, OMB, and CEA, and by executive order should end the use of SCC analysis. .

342. GDA-1375 Finally, the President should work with Congress to establish a sweeping modernization of the entire permitting system across all departments and agencies that is aimed at reducing litigation risk and giving agencies the authority to establish programmatic, general, and provisional permits. .

343. GDA-1376 OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY (ONDCP) Congress created the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 198840 to serve as a coordinative auxiliary for the President on all matters related to drug policy. .

344. GDA-1377 The next President's top drug policy priority must be to address the current fentanyl crisis and reduce the number of overdoses and fatalities. .

345. GDA-1388 While it makes sense to transfer these programs eventually to the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services, respectively, it is vital that the ONDCP Director ensure in the immediate term that these grant programs are funding the President's drug control priorities and not woke nonprofits with leftist policy agendas. .

346. GDA-1389 Thus, the President must insure that the ONDCP is managed by political appointees who are committed to the Administration's agenda and not acquiesce to management by political or career military personnel who oversaw the prior Administration's ONDCP. .

347. GDA-1390 GENDER POLICY COUNCIL (GPC) The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 1402041 and every policy, including subregulatory guidance documents, produced on behalf of or related to the establishment or promotion of the Gender Policy Council and its subsidiary issues. .

348. GDA-1394 Specifically, the President should appoint a position/point of contact with the rank of Special Assistant to the President or higher to coordinate and lead the President's domestic priorities on issues related to life and family in cooperation with the Domestic Policy Council. .

349. GDA-1396 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT (OVP) The Vice President is elected to the second highest office in the nation and plays a constitutionally vital role as President-in-waiting. .

350. GDA-1397 The Vice President is also the President of the Senate and is charged with breaking tie votes in that body. .

351. GDA-1398 In recent years, the Vice President has been granted office space in the West Wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. .

352. GDA-1399 The OVP is another one of the levers that the President should use to execute his agenda. .

353. GDA-1400 This is particularly true because there is significant and unique leverage that the Vice President's leadership of the OVP can evoke to shape policy discussions and outcomes. .

354. GDA-1401 Every other appointed White House official serves at the pleasure of the President, whereas the Vice President is elected, and the process for filling vacancies in that Article II constitutional office, which includes confirmation of a replacement Vice President by a majority of both Houses of Congress, is governed by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.42 The Vice President has his or her own economic advisers, domestic policy and national security staff, and daily intelligence briefings. .

355. GDA-1402 The Vice President should fill his or her office with strong and sound policy minds to effectively assist the President in fulfilling his agenda. .

356. GDA-1403 The Vice President is also a statutory member of the National Security Council.43 In theory, in light of the fact that the Vice President is a member of the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents,44 there is nothing to prevent Congress from assigning the Vice President additional statutory duties. .

357. GDA-1405 Only a Vice President who is deeply steeped in the interworking of the interagency and policy councils can offer useful advice and prove helpful in accomplishing the President's agenda. .

358. GDA-1406 It is also obvious, in view of the fact that many former Vice Presidents have gone on to be elected President in their own right,45 that the Vice Presidency can act as a training ground for presidential office. .

359. GDA-1407 In the past, the Vice President has been tasked with leading certain initiatives or issues. .

360. GDA-1409 Vice Presidents Richard Cheney and Dan Quayle were also active on the deregulatory front and in imposing regulatory moratoria. .

361. GDA-1412 Past Vice Presidents have also spent significant time abroad serving as a type of brand ambassador for the White House and, more broadly, for the United States, announcing Administration priorities and coordinating with heads of state and other top officials of foreign governments. .

362. GDA-1413 The Vice President, as President of the Senate, often serves as a presidential emissary to the Senate and thus can be especially helpful in securing passage of the President's legislative agenda. .

363. GDA-1414 To the extent that he or she desires, a Vice President can have a direct role in shaping Administration policy. .

364. GDA-1415 A Vice President who regularly attends meetings and disperses staff across the interagency and policy councils is a Vice President whose voice will be heard. .

365. GDA-1426 4. President William J. .

366. GDA-1439 8. President Donald J. .

367. GDA-1445 9. President Donald J. .

368. GDA-1451 10. President Donald J. .

369. GDA-1457 12. President Donald J. .

370. GDA-1462 13. President Donald J. .

371. GDA-1468 14. President Donald J. .

372. GDA-1475 15. President Donald J. .

373. GDA-1480 16. President Donald J. .

374. GDA-1485 17. President William J. .

375. GDA-1490 18. President Ronald Reagan, Executive Order 12630, "Governmental Actions and Interference with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights," March 15, 1988, in Federal Register, Vol. .

376. GDA-1532 31. See Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program, "Presidential Directives and Executive Orders," https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/direct.htm (accessed February 1, 2023), and Library of Congress, Researchers, Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, "Presidential Directives and Where to Find Them," March 30, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/directives.html (accessed February 1, 2023). .

377. GDA-1533 32. President Donald J. .

378. GDA-1557 39. President Donald J. .

379. GDA-1566 41. President Joseph R. .

380. GDA-1578 45. Vice Presidents Gerald Ford and Lyndon Johnson assumed (Ford) or initially assumed (Johnson) the office of the presidency by a process of succession. .

381. GDA-1581 Constitution makes clear, the President's appointment, direction, and removal authorities are the central elements of his executive power.1 In implementing that power, the people and the President deserve the most talented and responsible workforce possible. .

382. GDA-1582 Who the President assigns to design and implement his political policy agenda will determine whether he can carry out the responsibility given to him by the American people. .

383. GDA-1583 The President must recognize that whoever holds a government position sets its policy. .

384. GDA-1589 The agency's Director is charged with aiding the President, as the President may request, in preparing such civil service rules as the President prescribes and otherwise advising the President on actions that may be taken to promote an efficient civil service and a systematic application of the merit system principles, including recommending policies relating to the selection, promotion, transfer, performance, pay, conditions of service, tenure, and separation of employees. .

385. GDA-1609 In the 1970s, Georgia Democratic Governor Jimmy Carter, then a political unknown, ran for President supporting New Deal programs and their Great Society expansion but opposing the way they were being administered. .

386. GDA-1612 President Carter fulfilled his campaign promise by hiring Syracuse University Dean Alan Campbell, who served first as Chairman of the U.S. .

387. GDA-1616 But time ran out on President Carter before the act could be fully executed, so it was left to President Ronald Reagan and his new OPM and agency leadership to implement. .

388. GDA-1627 The OPM had used the Professional and Administrative Career Examination (PACE) general intelligence exam to select college graduates for top agency employment, but Carter Administration officials --- probably without the President's informed concurrence --- abolished the PACE through a legal consent court decree capitulating to demands by civil rights petitioners who contended that it was discriminatory. .

389. GDA-1633 In 2015, President Barack Obama's OPM began to introduce an improved merit examination called USAHire, which it had been testing quietly since 2012 in a few agencies for a dozen job descriptions. .

390. GDA-1636 President Donald Trump's OPM planned to implement such changes but was delayed because of legal concerns over possible disparate impact. .

391. GDA-1649 In 2018, President Trump issued Executive Order 1383916 requiring agencies to reduce the time for employees to improve performance before corrective action could be taken; to initiate disciplinary actions against poorly performing employees more expeditiously; to reiterate that agencies are obligated to make employees improve; to reduce the time for employees to respond to allegations of poor performance; to mandate that agencies remind supervisors of expiring employee probationary periods; to prohibit agencies from entering into settlement agreements that modify an employee's personnel record; and to reevaluate procedures for agencies to discipline supervisors who retaliate against whistleblowers. .

392. GDA-1669 A reform-friendly President and Congress might just provide the opportunity to create a more comprehensive performance plan; in the meantime, however, political executives should use existing pay and especially fiscal awards strategically to reward good performance to the degree allowed by law. .

393. GDA-1731 The GSA also manages the Presidential Transition Act (PTA) process, which also directly involves the OPM. .

394. GDA-1736 Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama began their terms, as did Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, by mandating a freeze on the hiring of new federal employees, but these efforts did not lead to permanent and substantive reductions in the number of nondefense federal employees. .

395. GDA-1743 OMB instructions following President Trump's employment freeze told agencies to consider buyout programs, encouraging early retirements in order to shift costs from current budgets in agencies to the retirement system and minimize the number of personnel fired. .

396. GDA-1744 The Environmental Protection Agency immediately implemented such a program, and OMB urged the passage of legislation to increase payout maximums from $25,000 to $40,000 to further increase spending under the "cuts." President Clinton's OMB had introduced a similar buyout that cost the Treasury $2.8 billion, mostly for those who were going to retire anyway. .

397. GDA-1749 A determined President should insist that performance be first and be wary of costly types of reductions-in-force. .

398. GDA-1759 That is a challenge primarily for Presidents, Congress, and the entire government, but the OPM still needs to lead the way governmentwide in managing personnel properly even in any future smaller government. .

399. GDA-1761 The people elect a President who is charged by Article 2, Section 3 of the Constitution23 with seeing that the laws are "faithfully executed" with his political appointees democratically linked to that legitimizing responsibility. .

400. GDA-1770 President Reagan's OPM began by limiting such SES burrowing-in, arguing that the proper course was to create and fill political positions. .

401. GDA-1776 Frustrated with these activities by top career executives, the Trump Administration issued Executive Order 1395724 to make career professionals in positions that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition but who discharge significant duties and exercise significant discretion in formulating and implementing executive branch policy and programs an exception to the competitive hiring rules and examinations for career positions under a new Schedule F. .

402. GDA-1778 The order was subsequently reversed by President Biden25 at the demand of the civil service associations and unions. .

403. GDA-1785 Even Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt considered union representation in the federal government to be incompatible with democracy. .

404. GDA-1787 It was not until President John Kennedy that union representation in the federal government was recognized --- and then merely by executive order. .

405. GDA-1792 Rather than being daunted, President Trump issued three executive orders: l Executive Order 13836, encouraging agencies to renegotiate all union collective bargaining agreements to ensure consistency with the law and respect for management rights;26 l Executive Order 13837, encouraging agencies to prevent union representatives from using official time preparing or pursuing grievances or from engaging in other union activity on government time;27 and l Executive Order 13839, encouraging agencies both to limit labor grievances on removals from service or on challenging performance appraisals and to prioritize performance over seniority when deciding who should be retained following reductions-in-force.28 All were revoked by the Biden Administration29 and should be reinstated by the next Administration, to include the immediate appointment of the FLRA General Counsel and reactivation of the Impasses Panel. .

406. GDA-1796 The President must rely legally on his top department and agency officials to run the government and on top White House staff employees to coordinate operations through regular Cabinet and other meetings and communications. .

407. GDA-1798 While many obstacles stand in his way, a President is constitutionally and statutorily required to fill the top political positions in the executive branch both to assist him and to provide overall legitimacy. .

408. GDA-1799 Most Presidents have had some difficulty obtaining congressional approval of their appointees, but this has worsened recently. .

409. GDA-1800 After the 2016 election, President Trump faced special hostility from the opposition party and the media in getting his appointees confirmed or even considered by the Senate. .

410. GDA-1801 His early Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO) did not generally remove political appointees from the previous Administration but instead relied mostly on prior political appointees and career civil servants to run the government. .

411. GDA-1802 Such a reliance on holdovers and bureaucrats led to a lack of agency control and the absolute refusal of the Acting Attorney General from the Obama Administration to obey a direct order from the President. .

412. GDA-1804 Whatever the reasoning, this had the effect of permanently hampering the rollout of the new President's agenda. .

413. GDA-1805 Thus, in those critical early years, much of the government relied on senior careerists and holdover Obama appointees to carry out the sensitive responsibilities that would otherwise belong to the new President's appointees. .

414. GDA-1806 Fortunately, the later PPO, OPM, and Senate leadership began to cooperate to build a strong team to implement the President's personnel appointment agenda. .

415. GDA-1809 If "personnel is policy" is to be our general guide, it would make sense to give the President direct supervision of the bureaucracy with the OPM Director available in his Cabinet. .

416. GDA-1819 AUTHORS' NOTE: The authors are grateful for the collaborative work of the individuals listed as contributors to this chapter for the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

417. GDA-1859 President Donald J. .

418. GDA-1864 17. President Joseph R. .

419. GDA-1882 24. President Donald J. .

420. GDA-1888 26. President Donald J. .

421. GDA-1893 27. President Donald J. .

422. GDA-1904 Section Two THE COMMON DEFENSE W hile the lives of Americans are affected in noteworthy ways, for better or worse, by each part of the executive branch, the inherent importance of national defense and foreign affairs makes the Departments of Defense and State first among equals. .

423. GDA-1921 Former State Department director of policy planning Kiron Skinner writes in Chapter 6, "[L]arge swaths of the State Department's workforce are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative President's policy agenda and vision." She adds that the department possesses a "belief that it is an independent institution that knows what is best for the United States, sets its own foreign policy, and does not need direction from an elected President" --- a view that does not align with the Constitution. .

424. GDA-1923 Skinner writes, "The next Administration must take swift and decisive steps to reforge the department into a lean and functional diplomatic machine that serves the President and, thereby, the American people." Because the Senate has been extraordinarily lax in fulfilling its constitutional obligation to confirm presidential appointees, she recommends putting appointees into acting roles until such time as the Senate confirms them. .

425. GDA-1930 She observes, "[M]any were quick to dismiss even the possibility that COVID escaped from a Chinese research laboratory." Meanwhile, Skinner writes, "[g]lobal leaders including President Joe Biden"¦have tried to normalize or even laud Chinese behavior." She adds, "In some cases, these voices, like global corporate giants BlackRock and Disney" --- or the National Basketball Association (NBA) --- "directly benefit from doing business with Beijing." Former vice president of the U.S. .

426. GDA-1938 Agency for International Development Max Primorac asserts that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) must be reformed, writing, "The Biden Administration has deformed the agency by treating it as a global platform to pursue overseas a divisive political and cultural agenda that promotes abortion, climate extremism, gender radicalism, and interventions against perceived systematic racism." If the recommendations in the following chapters are adopted, what Skinner says about the State Department could be true for other parts of the federal government's national security and foreign policy apparatus: The next conservative President has the opportunity to restructure the making and execution of U.S. .

427. GDA-1940 The recommendations outlined in this section provide guidance on how the next President should use the federal government's vast resources to do just that. .

428. GDA-1941 4 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Christopher Miller The Constitution requires the federal government to "provide for the common defence."1 It assigns to Congress the authority to "raise and support Armies" and to "provide and maintain a Navy"2 and specifies that the President is "commander in Chief" of America's armed forces.3 Ever since our Founding, Americans have understood that the surest way to avoid war is to be prepared for it in peace --- but when deterrence fails, we must fight and win. .

429. GDA-2034 2. The President should examine the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform4 and develop a strategy for implementing those that the Administration considers to be in the best interests of the American people. .

430. GDA-2071 DOD RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION (RDT&E) The FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act established the position of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and assigned broad responsibility for "all defense research and engineering, technology development, technology transition, prototyping, experimentation, and developmental testing activities and programs, including the allocation of resources for defense research and engineering, and unifying defense research and engineering efforts across the Department," to the new Under Secretary, who also was tasked with "serving as the principal advisor to the Secretary on all research, engineering, and technology development activities and programs in the Department."6 This led to the single largest DOD structural change since the Goldwater-Nichols act of 19867 and was organized effectively during President Donald Trump's Administration. .

431. GDA-2131 1. Appoint a Special Assistant to the President who will maintain liaison with Congress, DOD, and all other interested parties on the issue of recruiting and retention. .

432. GDA-2162 The next President should limit the continued advancement of many of the existing cadre, many of whom have been advanced by prior Administrations for reasons other than their warfighting prowess. .

433. GDA-2406 3. Expand defensive cyber-effects operations authorized by President Trump's classified National Security Presidential Memorandum 13, "United States Cyber Operations Policy."36 4. .

434. GDA-2475 nonstrategic capabilities and improve deterrence against limited nuclear attack.39 The Biden Administration canceled this program in its 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).40 The next President should support and accelerate funding for development of the SLCM-N with the goal of deployment by the end of the decade. .

435. GDA-2479 President Biden's 2022 NPR described the problem but proposed no recommendations to restore or maintain nuclear deterrence. .

436. GDA-2538 Its preparation was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

437. GDA-2640 Use of Cyberweapons," The Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house- confirms-it-has-relaxed-rules-on-u-s-use-of-cyber-weapons-1537476729 (accessed March 7, 2023); and Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program, "National Security Presidential Memoranda [NSPMs]: Donald J. .

438. GDA-2671 5 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Ken Cuccinelli PRIMARY RECOMMENDATION Our primary recommendation is that the President pursue legislation to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). .

439. GDA-2707 The Secretary of Homeland Security is a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed political appointee, but for budgetary reasons, he or she has historically been unable to fund a dedicated team of political appointees. .

440. GDA-2708 A key first step for the Secretary to improve front-office functions is to have his or her own dedicated team of political appointees selected and vetted by the Office of Presidential Personnel, which is not reliant on detailees from other parts of the department, to help ensure the completion of the next President's agenda. .

441. GDA-2719 Pending a possible presidential decision to shrink or eliminate DHS itself, the next Administration will still have the obligation to protect the homeland as required by law. .

442. GDA-2783 The next President should request a realistic budget that fully pays for these costs. .

443. GDA-2822 Safeguarding Americans will require not just securing the border, but continuous vetting and investigations of many aliens who exploited President Biden's open border for potentially nefarious purposes, including some Afghan evacuees sent directly to the U.S. .

444. GDA-2971 presents urgent circumstances requiring an immediate federal response, the Secretary may make, subject to the approval of the President, rules and regulations prohibiting in whole or in part the introduction of persons from such countries or places as he or she shall designate in order to avert or curtail such mass migration and for such period of time as is deemed necessary, including through the expulsion of such aliens. .

445. GDA-2973 2. Provide that notwithstanding any other provision of law, when the Secretary makes such a determination and then promulgates, subject to the approval of the President, such rules and regulations, the Secretary shall have the authority to waive all legal requirements of Title 8 that the Secretary, in his or her sole discretion, determines are necessary to avert or curtail the mass migration. .

446. GDA-3002 For FY 2023, President Biden requested more than $3.5 billion for federal assistance grants.13 Funds provided under these programs do not provide measurable gains for preparedness or resiliency. .

447. GDA-3055 The result has been a long series of high-profile embarrassments and security failures, perhaps most notably its allowing of then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to be inside the Democratic National Committee office on January 6, 2021, while a pipe bomb was outside. .

448. GDA-3070 USSS should keep visitor logs for all facilities where the President works or resides. .

449. GDA-3071 The Biden Administration has evaded such transparency with President Biden spending a historic amount of time for a President at his Delaware residence. .

450. GDA-3133 PLCY should perform a complete inventory, analysis, and reevaluation of the department's domestic terrorism lines of effort to ensure that they are consistent with the President's priorities, congressional authorization, and Americans' constitutional rights. .

451. GDA-3139 PLCY should set a departmentwide policy that establishes how granting choices are to be made and is consistent with the President's priorities. .

452. GDA-3176 OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS (OLA); OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (OPA); AND OFFICE OF PARTNERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT (OPE) DHS's external communications function should be consolidated and reformed so that the President's agenda can be implemented more effectively. .

453. GDA-3188 The next President should reach an agreement with congressional leadership to limit committee jurisdiction to one authorizing committee and one appropriations committee in each chamber. .

454. GDA-3193 The clients of both components are the President and the Secretary, not the media, external organizations, or Congress. .

455. GDA-3194 OPA and OLA should change from being compliance correspondents for outside entities airing grievances to serving as messengers and advocates for the President and the Secretary. .

456. GDA-3250 AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS It is critical to the achievement of the President's policy objectives that all agencies and departments touching immigration policy work in sync with one another. .

457. GDA-3253 l Department of Health and Human Services: Agree to move the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to DHS or, alternatively, implement an aggressive and regular effort by the Secretary of HHS to ensure that ORR is fully pursuing presidential objectives in support of DHS. .

458. GDA-3289 CIS-4, https://www.uscis.gov/ sites/default/files/document/reports/U.S._Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services%E2%80%99_Budget_ Overview_Document_for%20Fiscal_Year_2023.pdf#:~:text=The%20FY%202023%20Budget%20includes%20%24913.6M%2C%204%2C001%20positions%3B,of%20%24444.1M%20above%20the%20FY%202022%20President%E2%80%99s%20Budget (accessed March 14, 2023), and Table, "United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Comparison of Budget Authority and Request," in ibid., p. .

459. GDA-3330 Department of State's mission is to bilaterally, multilaterally, and regionally implement the President's foreign policy priorities; to serve U.S. .

460. GDA-3335 Although the Department has also evolved throughout the years, at least in the modern era, there is one significant problem that the next President must address to be successful. .

461. GDA-3336 There are scores of fine diplomats who serve the President's agenda, often helping to shape and interpret that agenda. .

462. GDA-3337 At the same time, however, in all Administrations, there is a tug-of-war between Presidents and bureaucracies --- and that resistance is much starker under conservative Presidents, due largely to the fact that large swaths of the State Department's workforce are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative President's policy agenda and vision. .

463. GDA-3338 It should not and cannot be this way: The American people need and deserve a diplomatic machine fully focused on the national interest as defined through the election of a President who sets the domestic and international agenda for the nation. .

464. GDA-3339 The next Administration must take swift and decisive steps to reforge the department into a lean and functional diplomatic machine that serves the President and, thereby, the American people. .

465. GDA-3342 The first Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, oversaw a small staff, diplomatic posts in London and Paris, and 10 consular posts.1 Today, the Department of State has almost 80,000 total employees (including 13,517 foreign service employees and 11,683 civil service employees) in 275 embassies, consulates, and other posts around the world.2 In theory, the State Department is the principal agency responsible for carrying out the President's foreign policy and representing the United States in other nations and international organizations. .

466. GDA-3343 To the extent consistent with presidential policy and federal law, the department also supports U.S. .

467. GDA-3352 As one expert has observed, the department "has significantly more at its disposal than was the case at the end of the Cold War, in the mid-1990s, and at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."4 A major source, if not the major source, of the State Department's ineffectiveness lies in its institutional belief that it is an independent institution that knows what is best for the United States, sets its own foreign policy, and does not need direction from an elected President. .

468. GDA-3353 The next President can make the State Department more effective by providing a clear foreign policy vision, selecting political officials and career diplomats that will enthusiastically turn that vision into a policy agenda, and firmly supporting the State Department as it makes the necessary institutional adjustments. .

469. GDA-3354 POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT Focusing the State Department on the needs and goals of the next President will require the President's handpicked political leadership --- as well as foreign service and civil service personnel who share the President's vision and policy agendas --- to run the department. .

470. GDA-3358 Senate confirmation process, the next President can exert leverage on the Senate if he or she is willing to place State Department appointees directly into those roles, pending confirmation. .

471. GDA-3363 To the extent possible, all non-confirmed senior appointees should be selected by the President-elect's transition team or the new President's Office of Presidential Personnel (depending on the timing of selection) and be in place the first day of the Administration. .

472. GDA-3373 Career foreign service and civil service personnel can and must be leveraged for their expertise and commitment to the President's mission. .

473. GDA-3375 The secretary must find a way to make clear to career officials that despite prior history and modes of operation, they need not be adversaries of a conservative President, Secretary of State, or the team of political appointees. .

474. GDA-3382 The priority should be to put in place new ambassadors who support the President's agenda among political appointees, foreign service officers, and civil service personnel, with no predetermined percentage among these categories. .

475. GDA-3383 Political ambassadors with strong personal relationships with the President should be prioritized for key strategic posts such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). .

476. GDA-3385 Before inauguration, the President-elect's department transition team should assess every aspect of State Department negotiations and funding commitments. .

477. GDA-3398 The next President should recalibrate how the State Department handles treaties and agreements, primarily by restoring constitutionality to these processes. .

478. GDA-3399 He or she should direct the Secretary of State to freeze any ongoing treaty or international agreement negotiations and assess whether those efforts align with the new President's foreign policy direction. .

479. GDA-3401 The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General and the White House Counsel's Office, should also conduct a review to identify "agreements" that are really treaty commitments within the ordinary public meaning of the Constitution,6 and suspend compliance pending presidential transmittal of those agreements to the Senate for advice and consent. .

480. GDA-3406 Interagency engagement in this new environment must be similarly adjusted to mirror presidential direction. .

481. GDA-3409 Ideally, the Secretary of State should work as part of an agile foreign policy team along with the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, and other agency heads to flesh out and advance the President's foreign policy. .

482. GDA-3410 Bureaucratic stovepipes of the past should be less important than commitment to, and achievement of, the President's foreign policy agenda. .

483. GDA-3411 The State Department's role in these interagency discussions must reflect the President's clear direction and disallow resources and tools to be used in any way that detracts from the presidentially directed mission. .

484. GDA-3414 The department must therefore take particular care in its interaction with Congress, since poor interactions with Congress, regardless of intentions, could trigger congressional pushback or have other negative impacts on the President's agenda. .

485. GDA-3417 This may lead to, for example, the President authorizing the State Department to engage with Members of Congress and relevant committees on certain issues (including statutorily designated congressional consultations), but to remain "radio silent" on volatile or designated issues on which the White House wants to be the primary or only voice. .

486. GDA-3418 All such authorized department engagements with Congress must be driven and handled by political appointees in conjunction with career officials who have the relevant expertise and are willing to work in concert with the President's political appointees on particularly sensitive matters. .

487. GDA-3471 PIVOTING ABROAD Personnel and management adjustments are crucial preludes to refocus the State Department's mission, which is implementing the President's foreign policy agenda and, in so doing, ensuring that the interests of American citizens are given priority. .

488. GDA-3472 That said, the next President must significantly reorient the U.S. .

489. GDA-3490 growth; stronger partnerships; synchronized economic and security policies; and American energy independence --- but above all, it will require a very honest perspective about the nature and designs of the PRC as more of a threat than a competitor.10 The next President should use the State Department and its array of resources to reassess and lead this effort, just as it did during the Cold War. .

490. GDA-3492 government needs an Article X for China,11 and it should be a presidential mandate. .

491. GDA-3500 In addition, some knowingly or not parrot the Communist line: Global leaders including President Joe Biden, have tried to normalize or even laud Chinese behavior. .

492. GDA-3513 Former President Obama has admitted his lack of support for the Green Movement during his Administration was an error and blamed it on poor advisors --- yet those same advisors are involved with the Biden Administration's insistence on reducing pressure on the theocracy and resurrecting a nuclear deal. .

493. GDA-3520 In the 24 years since Hugo Chavez was first elected Venezuelan president in 1999, the country has violently cracked down on pro-democracy citizens and organizations, shattered its once oil-rich economy, empowered domestic criminal cartels, and helped fuel a hemispheric refugee crisis. .

494. GDA-3527 The common ground seems to be recognition that presidential leadership in 2025 must chart the course. .

495. GDA-3533 The end goal of the conflict must be the defeat of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a return to pre-invasion border lines. .

496. GDA-3550 The next conservative President has a generational opportunity to bring resolution to the foreign policy tensions within the movement and chart a new path forward that recognizes Communist China as the defining threat to U.S. .

497. GDA-3803 The next Administration should take steps to ensure that future foreign assistance clearly and unambiguously supports the President's foreign policy agenda. .

498. GDA-3849 These mission-essential institutional initiatives should be joined with others to establish a presidentially directed and durable U.S. .

499. GDA-3851 CONCLUSION The next conservative President has the opportunity and the duty to restructure the creation and execution of U.S. .

500. GDA-3858 AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to the entire State Department chapter team, the leaders and staff of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, and my colleagues at The Heritage Foundation's Davis Center. .

501. GDA-3934 Carmack MISSION STATEMENT To arm a future incoming conservative President with the knowledge and tools necessary to fortify the United States Intelligence Community; to defend against all foreign enemies and ensure the security and prosperity of our sovereign nation, devoid of all political motivations; and to maintain constitutional civil liberties. .

502. GDA-3935 OVERVIEW The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is a vast, intricate bureaucracy spread throughout 18 independent and Cabinet subagencies.1 According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the IC's mission is "to collect, analyze, and deliver foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information to America's leaders so they can make sound decisions to protect our country."2 An incoming conservative President needs to use these intelligence authorities aggressively to anticipate and thwart our adversaries, including Russia, Iran, North Korea, and especially China, while maintaining counterterrorism tools that have demonstrated their effectiveness. .

503. GDA-3937 It also means removing redundancies, mission creep, and IC infighting that could prevent these collection tools from providing objective, apolitical, and empirically backed intelligence to the IC's premier customer: the President of the United States. .

504. GDA-3948 An incoming President must understand that today's intelligence competition could well require analyzing technologies the U.S. .

505. GDA-3950 A future President's ability to drive the resources needed to defeat another nation-state giant should therefore be the focus of near-term IC reforms. .

506. GDA-3953 The office and its functions stem from authorities established under executive orders promulgated by President George W. .

507. GDA-3954 Bush in 2004, followed by statutory authorizations in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA).5 Proponents of an ODNI hoped to establish reforms similar to the Goldwater- Nichols Department of Defense (DOD) reforms of the 1980s, which identified recurring problems within DOD's command-and-control architecture and led to unified Combatant Commands with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the senior ranking member of the armed forces and principal military adviser to the President. .

508. GDA-3956 As the President's principal intelligence adviser, the DNI would lead and provide oversight of the President's intelligence authorities while wielding a cudgel --- budget and appointment authorities --- to break institutional silos that had caused past intelligence integration failures. .

509. GDA-3957 Originally envisioned by the 9/11 Commission as a strengthened, authoritative position, the final congressionally negotiated product signed by President Bush has led to ambiguous and vague authorities that are dependent on who is selected as DNI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director and their level of support from the White House and National Security Council (NSC). .

510. GDA-3962 These statutory developments were what led President Bush's first choice to serve as DNI, Robert Gates, to turn down the position. .

511. GDA-3963 In discussions with the White House over the post, Gates noted that the "legislation weakened the leadership of the community" and that "instead of a stronger person, you ended up with a weaker person because the DNI had no troops and no additional powers really on the budget, hiring, and firing."7 Gates noted that success would require the President to "make explicit publicly that the DNI is head of the Intelligence Community, not some budgeter or coordinator," and that "[t]he position's only prayer of success is for the president to say plainly"¦how he sees the job. .

512. GDA-3965 My ability to begin reversing that capitulation was accomplished solely because President Trump made it repeatedly clear to the entire national security apparatus that he expected all intelligence matters to go through the DNI.9 To help further the legislative intent behind IRTPA, DNI Ratcliffe advised during the transition of incoming Biden DNI Avril Haines that the DNI should be the only Cabinet-level intelligence official.10 While his recommendation was adopted and has corrected the previously allowed imbalance by making the DNI the only Cabinet official and head of the IC at the table, the ODNI's effectiveness and direction leave much to be desired. .

513. GDA-3966 A conservative President must decide how to empower an individual to oversee and manage the Intelligence Community effectively. .

514. GDA-3967 To be successful, the DNI and ODNI must be able to lead the IC and implement the President's intelligence priorities. .

515. GDA-3970 Considerations like mismanagement of human resources, joint-duty assignments, and accelerated growth in senior personnel can cause a President to dictate to his incoming DNI a desire to slash redundant positions and expenditures while simultaneously giving the DNI the authority to drive necessary changes throughout the IC to deal with the nation's most compelling threats, including those emanating from China. .

516. GDA-3979 An equally important objective in passing the most significant intelligence reform since the National Security Act of 194712 was creation of the position of DNI, charged with assuming two of the three principal roles that formerly belonged to the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI): serving as principal intelligence adviser to the President and leading the IC as an enterprise. .

517. GDA-3981 Implementation of the DNI's roles as leader of the IC and principal intelligence adviser to the President has been challenging. .

518. GDA-3984 Instead, an incoming conservative President's immediate focus should be on modifying Executive Order 12333, the President's direction for implementing IRTPA.13 Executive Order 12333 was last amended on July 30, 2008, by President George W. .

519. GDA-3996 The order should consider stipulating what to do with DOD cyber agencies, most notably the NSA, in terms of strategic (for example, the President and the DNI) vs. .

520. GDA-3998 l Enhance the DNI's role in overseeing execution of the National Intelligence Program budget under the President's authority. .

521. GDA-4001 The DNI should have the President's direction to address emerging but catastrophic threats such as those posed by bioweapons. .

522. GDA-4019 An incoming conservative President will appoint whomever he chooses as DNI, but there should be agreement between the incoming DNI and President with advice and counsel from the Presidential Personnel Office on selecting positions overseen by the DNI throughout subordinate agencies, as well as concurrence by relevant Cabinet officials and the CIA. .

523. GDA-4020 This exists by executive order, but many Presidents, PPOs, and Cabinet agency heads do not follow executive order guidance and necessary norms. .

524. GDA-4021 The importance of trust, character, and the ability to work together to achieve a joint set of intelligence goals established by the President cannot be overstated: It is a mission that can be accomplished only with the conductor and his orchestra playing in sync. .

525. GDA-4027 The success of any DNI rests with support from the President. .

526. GDA-4029 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA) The CIA is a foreign intelligence collection service tasked with collecting human intelligence (HUMINT), providing all-source intelligence analysis and reporting, and conducting covert action when required to do so by the President. .

527. GDA-4031 After World War II, President Harry Truman disbanded the OSS, and the CIA was established in law by the National Security Act of 1947. .

528. GDA-4032 As with every agency in government, the President's election sets a new agenda for the country. .

529. GDA-4033 Public servants must be mindful that they are required to help the President implement that agenda while remaining apolitical, upholding the Constitution and laws of the United States, and earning the public trust. .

530. GDA-4034 The President requires a CIA that provides unbiased and apolitical foreign intelligence information and, when necessary, can act capably and effectively on any covert action findings. .

531. GDA-4036 The CIA's success depends on firm direction from the President and solid internal CIA Director-appointed leadership. .

532. GDA-4037 Decisive senior leaders must commit to carrying out the President's agenda and be willing to take calculated risks. .

533. GDA-4038 Therefore: l The next President-Elect and incoming Presidential Personnel Office should identify a Director nominee who can foster a mission-driven culture by making necessary personnel and structural changes. .

534. GDA-4039 l The President-Elect should choose a Deputy Director who, without needing Senate confirmation, can immediately begin to implement the President's agenda. .

535. GDA-4043 l The Director and Deputy Director should meet with all directorates and mission centers, prioritizing those that are aligned most closely with the President's priorities and calibrating collection and operations based on the President's intelligence requirements. .

536. GDA-4045 It must be clear that the CIA's liaison relationships overseas must follow and not contradict those set at the policy level by the President through the State Department. .

537. GDA-4047 If senior leadership finds any program or operation to be inconsistent with the President's agenda, the Director should immediately halt that program or operation. .

538. GDA-4050 Because mid-level managers lack accountability, there are areas in which personnel are not responsive to any authority, including the President. .

539. GDA-4051 The President should instruct the Director to hire or promote new individuals to lead the various directorates and mission centers. .

540. GDA-4053 In addition, the President should task the Director with significantly broadening recruitment, expediting onboarding practices, and shifting resources away from headquarters, including terminal generalist GS-15s when OPM buyouts, forced rotations, or up-and-out personnel policies are set for particular positions. .

541. GDA-4064 COVERT ACTION Covert action can be a valuable tool in helping further the President's foreign policy agenda if implemented in concert with other forms of government power. .

542. GDA-4066 Code, "the term 'covert action' means an activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly"¦."16 The President initiates a covert action with a written finding that explains why "such an action is necessary to support identifiable foreign policy objectives of the United States and is important to the national security of the United States."17 The statute assumes the President will use the CIA as the principal action element to achieve the objectives of covert action findings; however, the President need not feel constrained to utilize only the CIA: "[E]ach finding shall specify each department, agency, or entity of the United States Government authorized to fund or otherwise participate in any significant way in such action."18 For example, the Department of Defense maintains certain clandestine capabilities under Title 10 authorities that may resemble but far exceed in scale similar capabilities outside of DOD. .

543. GDA-4068 In practical terms, this means that many DOD capabilities, including those in the space and cyber domains, can be employed only after the initiation of armed conflict.19 Given the range of global threats the United States faces today, the President should consider whether DOD's complete set of capabilities should be used to support potential covert actions. .

544. GDA-4069 The problem, unfortunately, is that certain elements in the State Department, IC, and DOD trade on risk aversion or political bureaucracy to delay execution of the President's foreign policy goals. .

545. GDA-4070 A future conservative President should therefore identify individuals on the transition team who are familiar with the implementation of covert action with a view to placing them in key NSC, CIA, ODNI, and DOD positions. .

546. GDA-4072 Immediately after the inauguration, the President should task the NSC's Senior Director for Intelligence Programs with conducting a 60-day review of any current covert action findings, including their effectiveness; evaluating new covert actions that might be needed to implement the President's foreign policy goals; and reporting back to the President. .

547. GDA-4075 After the 60-day review, the President should demand creative thinking and a clear strategy as to how covert action fits within the President's broader foreign policy strategy, to include possibly modifying or rescinding any current findings, drafting new findings, and streamlining or eliminating needless bureaucracy, particularly at State, to facilitate more expeditious decisions on tactical covert action. .

548. GDA-4097 First, President Barack Obama's CIA Director, John Brennan, gravely damaged the CIA by minimizing the Directorate of Operations and exploiting intelligence analysis as a political weapon after he left office. .

549. GDA-4104 l The President should direct the DNI and the Attorney General, by direction of the respective Inspectors General and IC Analytic Ombudsman, to conduct a further audit of all IC equities of past politicization and abuses of intelligence information. .

550. GDA-4105 For example, a recent IC ombudsman analysis during the 2020 election cycle noted, "If our political leaders in the White House and Congress believe we are withholding intelligence because of organizational turf wars or political considerations, the legitimacy of the Intelligence Community's work is lost."23 l The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any former Directors, Deputy Directors, or other senior intelligence officials who discuss their work in the press or on social media without prior clearance from the current Director. .

551. GDA-4113 l Intelligence leaders need to model norms of neutrality and respect for the decision-making authority of the President, appointed officials, and Congress. .

552. GDA-4119 l Congress should not use IC leaders as pawns in policy struggles with the President or the other party during their appearances before committees of the House and Senate. .

553. GDA-4122 l Political leaders should avoid "manipulation-by-appointment," a practice by which intelligence leaders are selected for their policy views or political loyalties instead of their skilled expertise.24 Presidents should also avoid public rebukes and pressure from the intelligence profession, which can include intimidation and bullying, to shape IC analysis. .

554. GDA-4124 l Intelligence leaders and professionals should never "cook the books" for Presidents or change or shape their analysis to preserve access or status.25 FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT (FISA) A future President should understand the importance of FISA26 while also seeking reforms and accountability for any abuses of its authorities. .

555. GDA-4129 These are two major national security priorities for an incoming President, and it is imperative that the need to use properly maintained and accountable authorities to counter these challenges be recognized. .

556. GDA-4130 Section 702 is a vital program that often provides the lion's share of intelligence used in the President's Daily Brief (PDB).27 An independent review by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) found that it was not abused. .

557. GDA-4134 An incoming conservative President should consider reforms designed to prevent future partisan abuses of national security authority. .

558. GDA-4143 Questions for a President will include: l What is our overarching conception of the adversarial relationship and competition? l How does intelligence-sharing fit into that conception? Some Members of Congress have said that intelligence relationships such as the Five Eyes28 should be expanded to include other allies in the Asia-Pacific in, for example, a "Nine Eyes" framework. .

559. GDA-4145 That being said, however, a future conservative President should consider what resources and information-sharing relationships could be included in an ad hoc or quasi-formal intelligence expansion (for example, with the Quad) among nations trying to counter the threat from China. .

560. GDA-4157 My perspective was, 'Whatever we're spending on countering China, it isn't enough.'"31 From an intelligence standpoint, the need to understand Chinese motivations, capabilities, and intent will be of paramount importance to a future conservative President. .

561. GDA-4163 Barring statutory changes that could occur before 2025, a future conservative President should further empower and resource the IC by executive order or through suggested changes in the Counterintelligence Enhancement Act (CEA) of 2002.32 NCSC was given some authority for outreach efforts on behalf of the IC for counterintelligence education, insider threats, and broader U.S. .

562. GDA-4166 While there is no need to create a separate agency, a future President and DNI should amplify NCSC's authorities and roles with respect to counterintelligence strategy, policy, outreach, and governance, including supporting necessary Joint Duty Assignments (JDA) for FBI and CIA personnel. .

563. GDA-4173 The NCSC was created in the aftermath of 9/11 as the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), which later became the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) pursuant to President George W. .

564. GDA-4201 An incoming conservative President will have the opportunity to signal the demand for such strategic products and prioritize their production through communications to intelligence leaders and formal mechanisms such as shifting priorities within the National Intelligence Priority Framework and structuring the President's Daily Brief. .

565. GDA-4203 Accounting for the long history of intelligence failures and surprises, an incoming conservative President must appreciate the ambiguity, complexity, limits, and assumptions inherent in intelligence assessments. .

566. GDA-4205 Seeing something and understanding what you are seeing are two different things, so a President should consistently and patiently press the IC about its potential biases, assumptions, methodology, and sourcing. .

567. GDA-4253 An incoming conservative President should task his DNI and Secretary of Commerce with increasing coordination, the resources needed for BIS and SCIF capacity, and proper and necessary intelligence sharing to counter the activities of multifaceted adversaries such as China. .

568. GDA-4272 An incoming conservative President should reset Europe's expectations. .

569. GDA-4283 An incoming President should ask for an immediate study of the implementation of Executive Order 14086 and suspend any provisions that unduly burden intelligence collection. .

570. GDA-4284 At the same time, in negotiations with the Europeans, the United States should make clear that the continued sharing of intelligence with EU member states depends on successful resolution of this issue within the first two years of a President's term. .

571. GDA-4286 President's Daily Brief (PDB). .

572. GDA-4287 An incoming conservative President should make clear what the President's Daily Brief is and is not. .

573. GDA-4288 The PDB should be for the President specifically, with a much narrower distribution and addressing areas of strategic concern. .

574. GDA-4289 During the transition, the future National Security Advisor, along with the DNI, should conduct a review of current PDB recipients and determine which should remain recipients when the President's term begins. .

575. GDA-4290 Instead of being used as the statement of record for the agencies, the PDB often misses the areas of interest for Presidents and their senior advisers. .

576. GDA-4291 The President should want the PDB to focus on providing the information needed for the often imperfect and complex decisions that a President needs to make, which should always be based on the best intelligence that can be gathered. .

577. GDA-4292 Where consensus and agreement are possible, an IC-coordinated product is excellent, but insights provided by properly channeled dissent can lead a President to ask relevant questions of his DNI and IC. .

578. GDA-4294 Historically, briefers have come from the CIA, but a future President and DNI should consider a primary briefer or a rotation of briefers from other IC elements. .

579. GDA-4298 This includes authoring National Intelligence Estimates on major strategic issues with the entire IC, overseeing and deconflicting the annual analytic plans of each agency, and weighing in on day-to-day major analytical issues, sometimes individually (for example, by writing the NIC's strategic memos or providing detailed expert briefings to the President before major decisions). .

580. GDA-4303 Opening these senior analytic roles to the best analysts regardless of agency would also encourage the continued maturation of analytic cadres and tradecraft at those agencies and give them an equal voice in interagency analytical disputes, which in turn would give the President access to the best thinking and a variety of sources and perspectives from across the entire IC rather than from the CIA alone. .

581. GDA-4314 The President-Elect should require immediate reviews of the progress in implementing post-quantum encryption at a minimum for IC and Defense systems but preferably throughout the government. .

582. GDA-4315 The President's National Security Memorandum specifying "the goal of mitigating as much of the quantum risk as is feasible by 2035"49 needs to be revised in light of the magnitude of the threat. .

583. GDA-4322 President's Intelligence Advisory Board and PIAB Intelligence Oversight Board. .

584. GDA-4323 The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is charged with providing the President with an independent source of advice on the IC's effectiveness while offering insights into the IC's future plans. .

585. GDA-4324 The Board is meant to have access to all information needed to perform its functions and to have direct access to the President. .

586. GDA-4359 An incoming conservative President can right the ship and return the IC governance model to first principles by using a limited but empowered leadership and coordination design to serve the nation's intelligence and national security needs while reclaiming the public trust with fiscal responsibility, political neutrality, personnel accountability, technological prowess, and necessary human capital needed to counter the immense nation-state and asymmetrical threats facing our country. .

587. GDA-4360 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

588. GDA-4369 4. Christopher Porter, "Seven Questions the Next President Will Need the Intelligence Community to Answer to Win the Technology Competition with China," LinkedIn, March 14, 2023, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ seven-questions-next-president-need-intelligence-community-porter/?trackingId=Dl9RF5CnSwWnAO7r9ggHiQ%3D%3D (accessed March 18, 2023). .

589. GDA-4388 13. President Ronald Reagan, Executive Order 12333, "United States Intelligence Activities," December 4, 1981, in Federal Register, Vol. .

590. GDA-4392 14. President George W. .

591. GDA-4397 See also President George W. .

592. GDA-4438 29. Porter, "Seven Questions the Next President Will Need the Intelligence Community to Answer to Win the Technology Competition with China." 30. .

593. GDA-4446 33. President George W. .

594. GDA-4460 38. President Barack Obama, Executive Order 13526, "Classified National Security Information," December 29, 2009, in Federal Register, Vol. .

595. GDA-4464 39. President Barack Obama, Executive Order 13556, "Controlled Classified Information," November 4, 2010, in Federal Register, Vol. .

596. GDA-4478 47. President Joseph R. .

597. GDA-4486 49. President Joseph R. .

598. GDA-4488 See also President Joseph R. .

599. GDA-4492 27909-27911, https:// www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-05-09/pdf/2022-10076.pdf (accessed March 12, 2023); and "Fact Sheet: President Biden Announces Two Presidential Directives Advancing Quantum Technologies," The White House, May 4, 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/04/fact- sheet-president-biden-announces-two-presidential-directives-advancing-quantum-technologies/ (accessed March 12, 2023). .

600. GDA-4518 RFA utilizes on-the-ground reporters and networks of in-country sources, citizen journalists, and eyewitnesses who provide leads, tips, images, and video.10 Several reports from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) were released showing waste and self-dealing, including security vulnerabilities and RFA leadership awarding insiders millions of dollars of grant funding.11 For example, as the OIG stated in one report, the then-president of RFA "established the Freedom2Connect Foundation (Foundation)" and thereafter "awarded two contracts, totaling $1.2 million" to the foundation she herself founded.12 Furthermore: [The] OIG found that RFA did not comply with Federal procurement requirements for grantees. .

601. GDA-4537 21 The Firewall Regulation was entered into the Federal Register on the eve of the Senate confirmation of President Donald Trump's USAGM CEO, Michael Pack. .

602. GDA-4545 President --- in contradiction of VOA's own journalistic standards, policies, and procedures. .

603. GDA-4555 Indeed, content during the Trump Administration was rife with typical mainstream media talking points assailing the President and his staff. .

604. GDA-4559 Legal advocacy organization America First Legal Foundation even wrote to President Joe Biden asking him to withdraw her nomination,27 citing several severe national security failures while she was director of VOA.28 Her tenure as director during the Obama Administration (and her holdover into the beginning of the Trump Administration) was marred with operational failures, security failures, and credibility failures. .

605. GDA-4579 Prior to the arrival of President Donald Trump's appointees in June 2020, budgeting, financial responsibility, and spending totaled over $800 million per year, with virtually no oversight or supervision. .

606. GDA-4588 Numerous career whistleblowers came forward to sound the alarm to President Trump's USAGM political team about OTF's abuse and overreach.36 Its opaque, expensive, and unnecessary usurpation of an existing USAGM office is an egregious example of government waste and illustrates the general disdain for U.S. .

607. GDA-4611 As an executive branch agency, the USAGM ostensibly should report to the President and coordinate activities with the National Security Council (NSC) --- especially given the direct and implied national security aspects of the agency's messaging globally. .

608. GDA-4656 CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING Mike Gonzalez Every Republican President since Richard Nixon has tried to strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) of taxpayer funding. .

609. GDA-4657 That is significant not just because it means that for half a century, Republican Presidents have failed to accomplish what they set out to do, but also because Nixon was the first President in office when National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which the CPB funds, went on air. .

610. GDA-4658 In other words, all Republican Presidents have recognized that public funding of domestic broadcasts is a mistake. .

611. GDA-4659 As a 35-year-old lawyer in the Nixon White House, one Antonin Scalia warned that conservatives were being "confronted with a long-range problem of significant social consequences --- that is, the development of a government-funded broadcast system similar to the BBC."47 All of which means that the next conservative President must finally get this done and do it despite opposition from congressional members of his own party if necessary. .

612. GDA-4661 The reason is simple: President Lyndon Johnson may have pledged in 1967 that public broadcasting would become "a vital public resource to enrich our homes, educate our families and to provide assistance to our classrooms,"48 but public broadcasting immediately became a liberal forum for public affairs and journalism. .

613. GDA-4663 As Thomas Jefferson put it, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagations of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."49 A DEMONSTRATED PATTERN OF BIAS Conservatives will thus reward a President who eliminates this tyrannical situation. .

614. GDA-4671 The 47th President can just tell the Congress --- through the budget he proposes and through personal contact --- that he will not sign an appropriations spending bill that contains a penny for the CPB. .

615. GDA-4672 The President may have to use the bully pulpit, as NPR and PBS have teams of lobbyists who have convinced enough Members of Congress to save their bacon every time their taxpayer subsidies have been at risk since the Nixon era. .

616. GDA-4679 NPR, Pacifica, and the other radio ventures have zero claim on an educational function (the original purpose for which they were created by President Johnson), and the percentage of on-air programming that PBS devotes to educational endeavors such as "Sesame Street" (programs that are themselves biased to the Left) is small. .

617. GDA-4686 The next President should instruct the FCC to exclude the stations affiliated with PBS and NPR from the NCE denomination and the privileges that come with it. .

618. GDA-4781 48. President Lyndon B. .

619. GDA-4782 Johnson, State of the Union Address, January 10, 1967, https://www.infoplease.com/ primary-sources/government/presidential-speeches/state-union-address-lyndon-b-johnson-january-10-1967 (accessed March 21, 2023). .

620. GDA-4836 government and carry out the agenda of the next conservative President more effectively. .

621. GDA-4866 Upon taking office, President Biden issued executive orders to "put the climate crisis at the center of U.S. .

622. GDA-4906 The next conservative Administration should rename the USAID Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) as the USAID Office of Women, Children, and Families; refocus and realign resources that currently support programs in GEWE to the Office of Women, Children, and Families; redesignate the Senior Gender Coordinator as an unapologetically pro-life politically appointed Senior Coordinator of the Office of Women, Children, and Families; and eliminate the "more than 180 gender advisors and points of contact"¦embedded in Missions and Operating Units throughout the Agency."9 In addition, the next conservative Administration should rescind President Biden's 2022 Gender Policy and refocus it on Women, Children, and Families and revise the agency's regulation on "Integrating Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in USAID's Program Cycle."10 It should remove all references, examples, definitions, photos, and language on USAID websites, in agency publications and policies, and in all agency contracts and grants that include the following terms: "gender," "gender equality," "gender equity," "gender diverse individuals," "gender aware," "gender sensitive," etc. .

623. GDA-4916 Shortly after taking office, however, President Biden issued a memorandum that reversed a myriad of pro-life policies and revoked the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy, widely known as the Mexico City Policy. .

624. GDA-4919 Previous pro-life Presidents beginning with Ronald Reagan applied these conditions to family planning assistance, but President Trump for the first time expanded the Mexico City Policy to protect "global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies" (estimated to be $8.8 billion annually). .

625. GDA-4928 Members of Congress have advocated closing these loopholes by extending PLGHA to all foreign assistance through the Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act, sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC).11 Current law in the Foreign Assistance Act gives the President broad authority to set "such terms and conditions as he may determine" on foreign assistance, which legally empowers the next conservative President to expand this pro-life policy. .

626. GDA-4932 It should simultaneously rescind President Biden's memorandum entitled "Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad," issued on January 28, 2021.12 The new pro-life executive order should apply to foreign NGOs, including subgrantees and subcontractors, and remove exemptions for U.S.-based NGOs, public international organizations, and bilateral government-to-government agreements. .

627. GDA-4938 President Trump's Executive Order 13926 on "Advancing International Religious Freedom"13 instructed the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator, to budget at least $50 million a year for programs that advance international religious freedom and "ensure that faith-based and religious entities, including eligible entities in foreign countries, are not discriminated against on the basis of religious identity or religious belief when competing for Federal funding." Under the Trump Administration, the agency set up a senior-level Chief Adviser for International Religious Freedom who reported directly to the Administrator with the task of coordinating a "whole-of-USAID" approach to achieving this priority. .

628. GDA-4969 The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has shown that localization at scale is possible within a short time span. .

629. GDA-4979 The USAID Bureau for Global Health (GH), the second largest within USAID, oversees a multibillion-dollar operation to support maternal and child health; voluntary family planning; PEPFAR and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) (both started under President George W. .

630. GDA-5004 NGOs with significant overhead costs, as a result of which only 20 percent-30 percent of funding reaches people in need.15 Leveraging the Strength and Experience of Presidential Initiatives. .

631. GDA-5052 l In Afghanistan, the aid infrastructure built over 20 years of American military presence that three Presidents wanted to end collapsed with the failure of U.S.-trained Afghan forces to repel the Taliban's 2021 advances. .

632. GDA-5109 The next conservative Administration should leave in place the current structure of two presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Deputy Administrators, one for Policy and one for Management. .

633. GDA-5113 It should reorient the bulk of F staff from focusing on the formulation of the annual President's budget proposal to the execution of already appropriated resources. .

634. GDA-5122 The White House Office of Presidential Personnel should allow the USAID Administrator to explore with counterparts at the Office of Personnel Management whether the agency could hire personnel under both the Administratively Determined authority and Schedule C of the Excepted Service of the Federal Civil Service. .

635. GDA-5175 President Trump's Abraham Accords signaled the end of the centrality of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which paralyzed U.S. .

636. GDA-5180 A new conservative President should reset USAID's programming in the Middle East in line with our national security interests and committed to the goal of ending the need for foreign aid through development that is led by the private sector. .

637. GDA-5264 On Day One, USAID should halt all agencywide training and replace it with training modules to advance the President's agenda. .

638. GDA-5274 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

639. GDA-5291 Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific," declassified in part by Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Robert C. .

640. GDA-5293 O'Brien, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, "A Free and Open Indo-Pacific," January 5, 2021, https:// trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/OBrien-Expanded-Statement.pdf (accessed March 18, 2023). .

641. GDA-5306 12. President Joseph R. .

642. GDA-5307 Biden Jr., "Memorandum on Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad," Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, The White House, January 28, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/28/memorandum- on-protecting-womens-health-at-home-and-abroad/ (accessed March 18, 2023). .

643. GDA-5308 13. President Donald J. .

644. GDA-5315 16. President Donald J. .

645. GDA-5325 Section Three THE GENERAL WELFARE When our Founders wrote in the Constitution that the federal government would "promote the general Welfare," they could not have fathomed a massive bureaucracy that would someday spend $3 trillion in a single year --- roughly the sum, combined, spent by the departments covered in this section in 2022. .

646. GDA-5328 When Congress passed and President Lyndon B. .

647. GDA-5333 HHS is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the duo most responsible --- along with President Joe Biden --- for the irrational, destructive, un-American mask and vaccine mandates that were imposed upon an ostensibly free people during the COVID-19 pandemic. .

648. GDA-5345 As former counselor to the attorney general Gene Hamilton writes in Chapter 17, the department "has a long and noble history" --- Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general, took office the same year as President Washington --- yet its longstanding reputation has been marred by the Biden Administration's abuse of the department's powers for its own ends. .

649. GDA-5358 Under the next President, the Department of Energy should end the Biden Administration's unprovoked war on fossil fuels, restore America's energy independence, oppose eyesore windmills built at taxpayer expense, and respect the right of Americans to buy and drive cars of their own choosing, rather than trying to force them into electric vehicles and eventually out of the driver's seat altogether in favor of self-driving robots. .

650. GDA-5360 McNamee says in Chapter 12, "A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America's energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests." In Chapter 10, Daren Bakst writes that the Biden Administration's Department of Agriculture claims to be "transforming the food system as we know it." But the government "does not need to transform the food system"; instead, "it should respect American farmers, truckers," and families. .

651. GDA-5390 OVERVIEW In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the legislation that created the USDA.4 The department had a very narrow mission focused on the dissemination of information connected to agriculture and "to procure, propagate and distribute among the people new valuable seeds and plants."5 During the last 160 years, the scope of the USDA's work has expanded well beyond that narrow mission --- and well beyond agriculture itself. .

652. GDA-5532 Government Accountability Office said results in the USDA not "regularly assess[ing] the programs' fraud risks," the NSLP wasted nearly $500 million in FY 2021.89 The SBP now wastes nearly $200 million annually.90 Despite the ongoing effort to expand school meals under CEP and the evidence of waste and inefficiency, left-of-center Members of Congress and President Biden's Administration have nonetheless proposed further expansions to extend federal school meals to include every K-12 student --- regardless of need.91 The Administration recently proposed expanding federal school meal programs offered during the school year to be offered during the summer as part of the "American Families Plan," and also proposed expanding CEP. .

653. GDA-5622 In 2018, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13855 to, among other things, promote active management of forests and reduce wildfire risks.122 The executive order stated, "Active management of vegetation is needed to treat these dangerous conditions on Federal lands but is often delayed due to challenges associated with regulatory analysis and current consultation requirements."123 It further explained the need to reduce regulatory obstacles to fuel reduction in forests created by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.124 The next Administration should: l Champion executive action, consistent with law, and proactive legislation to reduce wildfires. .

654. GDA-5743 33. Although livestock and specialty crop producers do receive some subsidies, former American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman captured the subsidy issue well. .

655. GDA-6014 In July of that year, President Lyndon B. .

656. GDA-6027 Eventually, the National Education Association made a deal and backed the right presidential candidate --- Jimmy Carter --- who successfully lobbied for and delivered the Cabinet-level agency. .

657. GDA-6055 Congress should set policy --- not Presidents through pen-and-phone executive orders, and not agencies through regulations and guidance. .

658. GDA-6112 With a statutory charge that it preserve the federal student loan portfolio for the benefit of the taxpayers and students, this new entity would be (1) professionally governed by an agency head and board of trustees appointed by the President A heritage.orgSOURCES: The Nation's Report Card, "National Average Scores," Grade 4, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ mathematics/nation/scores/?grade=4 (accessed March 17, 2023), and The Nation's Report Card, "National Average Scores," Grade 8, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/nation/scores/?grade=4 (accessed March 17, 2023). .

659. GDA-6124 Current Laws Relating to the Department of Education That Require Repeal In order to fully wind down the Department of Education, Congress must pass and the President must sign into law a Department of Education Reorganization Act (or Liquidating Authority Act) to direct the executive branch on how to devolve the agency as a stand-alone Cabinet-level department. .

660. GDA-6125 l Congress should pass and the next President should sign a Department of Education Reorganization Act. .

661. GDA-6210 President Biden has proposed a new income-driven repayment program that would be extremely generous to borrowers, requiring only nominal payments from most students. .

662. GDA-6458 NEW EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD ISSUE Guidance Documents l The President should immediately reinstate and reissue Executive Order 13891: Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents, 84 Fed. .

663. GDA-6465 President Biden revoked these executive orders on January 20, 2021, demonstrating that these executive orders effectively restrained the abuses of an expansive administrative state. .

664. GDA-6467 The President should issue an executive order requiring the Office for Civil Rights' Case Processing Manual to go through APA (Administrative Procedures Act) notice and comment. .

665. GDA-6469 The President should issue an executive order requiring grant applications (SF-424 series) to contain assurances that the applicant will uphold the First Amendment in funded programs and work. .

666. GDA-6471 The President should issue an executive order stating that a college degree shall not be required for any federal job unless the requirements of the job specifically demand it. .

667. GDA-6475 The President should issue an executive order removing the archived list and preventing such a list from being published in the future. .

668. GDA-6485 l Although the accreditation regulations should be removed entirely by Congress, in the meantime, the next President should issue an executive order expanding the list of allowable accreditors. .

669. GDA-6486 Transparency Around Program Performance and DEI Influence The next President should issue a series of executive orders requiring: l An accounting of how federal programs/grants spread DEI/CRT/ gender ideology, l A review of outcomes for GEAR UP and the 21st Century grants programs, l The reissuing of the report on school safety from 2018 with updated information, l The release of a report to Congress on how to consolidate the department and trim nonessential employees, l A report on the negative influence of action civics on students' understanding of history and civics and their disposition toward the United States, l An update of the Coleman report to show the impact of family structure on student achievement, l A full accounting of CARES Act education expenditures, and l A report on how many dollars make their way to the classroom in every federal education grant and program. .

670. GDA-6487 Pursue Antitrust Against Accreditors l The President should issue an executive order pursuing antitrust against college accreditors, especially the American Bar Association (ABA). .

671. GDA-6518 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

672. GDA-6580 A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America's energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests. .

673. GDA-6604 The next conservative President therefore needs to recommit the United States to ensuring this dominance. .

674. GDA-6657 New Policies: International Energy Security To help the President and policymakers understand and apply U.S. .

675. GDA-6666 This strategy would take account of the energy landscape across the globe to inform the President in his foreign policy and defense roles, but it should not be a tool for U.S. .

676. GDA-6721 OE (along with CESER if they are combined) should focus on the security of critical infrastructure equipment used in the bulk power system as envisioned in President Trump's May 2020 Executive Order 13920 and a related December 2020 Prohibition Order,26 which was revoked in April 2021 by President Biden.27 In addition, CESER/OE should: 1. .

677. GDA-6913 The Secretary of Energy is a senior member of the President's National Security Council and should function as such. .

678. GDA-6917 l Stop "climate reparations." The President should refuse to provide climate reparations under an unratified treaty, and IA should encourage other countries to reconsider their desire to provide reparations. .

679. GDA-6925 AE should help to identify those interests, as well as threats posed by countries like Russia and China, and develop appropriate policy options for the President's consideration. .

680. GDA-6971 SC is led by a Senate-confirmed Director at the Assistant Secretary level and has eight program offices.82 Needed Reforms The next conservative President should commit the United States to scientific dominance to support national and economic security, especially in light of similar efforts by China. .

681. GDA-6995 Under President Trump, significant changes in waste classification from HLW to LLW enabled significant progress on remediation. .

682. GDA-7055 The statutorily established NWC is required to report to the President and Congress but needs to refocus its efforts on providing comprehensive oversight of DOE and DOD nuclear weapons policy and requirements. .

683. GDA-7244 19. President Donald J. .

684. GDA-7369 64. President Donald J. .

685. GDA-7601 Particle pollution in the form of a thick, fog-like haze that at times was laced with harmful metals was a frequent occurrence across the country.7 More than 40 percent of communities failed to meet basic water quality standards, and in 1969, the Cuyahoga River infamously caught fire after sparks from a passing train ignited debris in the water, which was filled with heavy industrial waste.8 EPA was established on December 2, 1970, following a call by President Richard Nixon to "rationally and systematically" organize existing piecemeal efforts to clean up and protect the environment.9 Under Reorganization Plan No. .

686. GDA-7639 To initiate the review and reorganization, a Day One executive order should be drafted for the incoming President with explicit language requiring reconsideration of the agency's structure with reference to fulfilling its mission to create a better environmental tomorrow with clean air, safe water, healthy soil, and thriving communities. .

687. GDA-7652 EPA should not conduct any ongoing or planned activity for which there is not clear and current congressional authorization, and it should communicate this shift in the President's first budget request. .

688. GDA-7826 This priority should be underscored in the President's first budget request. .

689. GDA-7827 l The new President's Inauguration Day regulatory review/freeze directives should avoid exceptions for EPA actions. .

690. GDA-7947 Budget OCFO is responsible for drafting and sharing the President's budget with Congress. .

691. GDA-7972 9. President Richard Nixon, "Reorganization Plan No. .

692. GDA-7973 3 of 1970: Special Message from the President to the Congress About Reorganization Plans to Establish the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," July 9, 1970, https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/ reorganization-plan-no-3-1970.html (accessed January 25, 2023). .

693. GDA-8117 Under President Trump, HHS was dedicated to serving "all Americans from conception to natural death, including those individuals and families who face"¦economic and social well-being challenges."1 Under President Biden, the mission has shifted to "promoting equity in everything we do" for the sake of "populations sharing a particular characteristic" including race, sexuality, gender identification, ethnicity, and a host of other categories.2 As a result of HHS's having lost its way, U.S. .

694. GDA-8141 Unfortunately, family policies and programs under President Biden's HHS are fraught with agenda items focusing on "LGBTQ+ equity," subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage. .

695. GDA-8485 HHS under President Trump disallowed $200 million in Medicaid funding from California because of the state's flouting of the law, but the Biden Administration restored it. .

696. GDA-8493 Neither the letter nor the spirit of the law was enforced under President Obama, and a Trump- era regulation sought to correct this problem. .

697. GDA-8762 The ASH is tasked with overseeing not only the USPHS, but also 10 regional health offices, multiple presidential and secretarial advisory committees, and other offices such as the Offices of Minority Health, Women's Health, and Population Affairs. .

698. GDA-8794 When the President declares a national emergency (per the Stafford Act) related to a public health emergency declared by the HHS Secretary, FEMA is activated and controls instead of HHS/ASPR. .

699. GDA-8797 The President should invoke the Defense Production Act,79 which is a form of temporary takeover of private enterprises, only in the gravest circumstances. .

700. GDA-8864 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of selfless individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

701. GDA-8978 45. President Joseph R. .

702. GDA-9145 The Federal Housing Administration administers the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Program (MMIF) and various other mortgage insurance, direct loan, and loan guarantee programs for single-family housing, multifamily housing, hospitals, and health care facilities that meet certain conditions.17 l Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), headed by a Senate- confirmed GNMA President or Executive Vice President. .

703. GDA-9171 l The President should issue an executive order making the HUD Secretary a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which will gain broader oversight authorities to address foreign threats, particularly from China with oversight of foreign ownership of real estate in both rental and ownership markets of single-family and multifamily housing,26 with trillions worth of real estate secured across HUD's portfolio. .

704. GDA-9230 6. Effectively the HUD Chief Operating Officer and appointed by the President with Senate advice and consent. .

705. GDA-9235 8. HUD currently has a Departmental Equity Assessment Working Group, supported with five FTEs funded by the OSDBU, "as part of the President's Executive Order 13985, Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government." See U.S. .

706. GDA-9237 35-15, https://www.hud.gov/sites/ dfiles/CFO/documents/2023HUDCongressionalJustificationsFINALelectronicversion.pdf (accessed March 4, 2023), and President Joseph R. .

707. GDA-9242 9. Interestingly, "[t]he 2023 President's Budget requests $748 thousand for CFBNP, which is $436 thousand less than the 2022 Annualized CR level. .

708. GDA-9372 A "Home Department" had been considered in 1789 and urged by Presidents over the decades until DOI's creation in 1849. .

709. GDA-9376 Historically, DOI operated in a bipartisan manner consistent with the laws enacted by Congress pursuant to its powers under the Property Clause.2 Thus, DOI fulfilled its statutory responsibilities in a manner that ensured the ability of western states, counties, and communities to be sustained by both economic and recreational activities on neighboring federal lands, especially given that in some rural western counties, federal lands constituted 50, 60, 70, 80 --- even 90 percent of the county's landmass.3 That ended with the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, who, beholden to environmental groups that supported his election, adopted DOI policies consistent with their demands, much to the horror of western governors, most of whom were Democrats. .

710. GDA-9377 President Ronald Reagan campaigned against this "War on the West," declared himself a "Sagebrush Rebel," and, on taking office,4 quelled the rebellion by reversing Carter Administration policies. .

711. GDA-9378 President George H. .

712. GDA-9379 W. Bush distanced himself from Reagan's western policies, committed to a "kinder and gentler America," and proclaimed his desire to be "the environmental President," which resulted in changes at the his Administration's DOI --- again, much to the dismay of westerners.5 President Bill Clinton resumed Carter's "War on the West," epitomized by his DOI's deploying of wolves into the states bordering Yellowstone National Park; the decreed death of a world-class mine in Montana; and the designation of a vast national monument in Utah over the objections of Utah leaders --- but with the support of the Hollywood elite.6 Although Texas Governor George W. .

713. GDA-9381 President Barack Obama's DOI resumed the anti-economic federal lands policies activated by Carter and amplified by Clinton; however, Obama's DOI's antipathy to oil and gas activity on federal lands as mandated by Congress could not have come at a worse time. .

714. GDA-9382 After the demonstrated success of fracking on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acreage in Wyoming in 1993, the fracking revolution soon swept the nation,7 yielding massive discoveries on state and private land from coast to coast, but not, thanks to Obama, on western federal lands.8 President Donald Trump, on the other hand, immediately ordered his DOI to comply with federal law, conduct congressionally mandated lease sales, and seek to achieve energy dominance or independence. .

715. GDA-9383 Thanks in part to the success of oil and gas operations on federal land in the West, the United States achieved energy security for the first time since 1957 in 2019.9 President Joe Biden's DOI, as is well documented, abandoned all pretense of complying with federal law regarding federally owned oil and gas resources. .

716. GDA-9384 Not since the Administration of President Harry S. .

717. GDA-9385 Truman --- prior to creation of the OCS oil and gas program --- have fewer federal leases been issued.10 At DOI, not since the Reagan Administration was the radical environmental agenda (first implemented by Carter, resumed by Clinton, and revitalized by Obama) rolled back as substantially as it was by President Trump. .

718. GDA-9413 RESTORING AMERICAN ENERGY DOMINANCE Given the dire adverse national impact of Biden's war on fossil fuels, no other initiative is as important for the DOI under a conservative President than the restoration of the department's historic role managing the nation's vast storehouse of hydrocarbons, much of which is yet to be discovered. .

719. GDA-9444 CEQ reforms to NEPA.43 l Reinstate President Trump's plan for opening most of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development. .

720. GDA-9448 President Trump's Schedule F proposal44 regarding accountability in hiring must be reinstituted to bring success to these reforms. .

721. GDA-9566 l Reinstate President Trump's 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule64 for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which was replaced by a Biden Roadless Rule that continues a 2001 Clinton rule affecting 9.37 million of the forest's 16.7 million acres.65 The Clinton rule affects an area where communities are in small islands with no road access. .

722. GDA-9569 OTHER ACTIONS The 30 by 30 Plan.66 President Biden's Executive Order 14008 (30 by 30 plan)67 requires that the federal government, which already owns one-third of the country: (1) remove vast amounts of private property from productive use; and (2) end congressionally mandated uses of all federal land. .

723. GDA-9571 by 2030."68 Although the new President should vacate that order, DOI under a conservative President must take immediate action on the 30 by 30 plan by vacating a secretarial order issued by the Biden DOI69 that eliminated the Trump Administration's requirement for the approval of state and local governments before federal acquisition of private property with monies from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.70 National Monument Designations. .

724. GDA-9572 As has every Democratic President before him beginning with Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden has abused his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906. .

725. GDA-9574 Although President Trump courageously ordered a review of national monument designations, the result of that review was insufficient in that only two national monuments in one state (Utah) were adjusted.72 Monuments in Maine and Oregon, for example, should have been adjusted downward given the finding of Secretary Ryan Zinke's review that they were improperly designated. .

726. GDA-9575 The new Administration's review will permit a fresh look at past monument decrees and new ones by President Biden. .

727. GDA-9576 Furthermore, the new Administration must vigorously defend the downward adjustments it makes to permit a ruling on a President's authority to reduce the size of national monuments by the U.S. .

728. GDA-9578 Finally, the new Administration must seek repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which permitted emergency action by a President long before the statutory authority existed for the protection of special federal lands, such as those with wild and scenic rivers, endangered specials, or other unique places. .

729. GDA-9612 Pursuant to an Executive Order signed by President Trump, and consistent with its authority along with other federal agencies, DOI's Bureau of Reclamation must take the following actions: l Develop additional storage capacity across the arid west, including by: 1. .

730. GDA-9621 l Reinstate Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West.95 AMERICAN INDIANS AND U.S. .

731. GDA-9640 New funds should come from the Great American Outdoors Act.97 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

732. GDA-9671 7619-7633, and White House, "Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis," January 20, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order- protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/ (accessed March 16, 2023). .

733. GDA-9766 44. Donald Trump, "Executive Order on Creating Schedule F in the Accepted Service," Executive Order 13957, October 21, 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-creating- schedule-f-excepted-service/ (accessed March 16, 2023). .

734. GDA-9802 Alaska 1978) (NEPA does not apply to presidential proclamations under the Antiquities Act). .

735. GDA-9811 In December 1980, President Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservations Act; subsequently, during the Reagan Administration, Alaska dropped its lawsuit. .

736. GDA-9832 The land order was issued 'by virtue of the authority vested in the President and pursuant to Executive Order 10355 of May 26, 1952 (17 Fed. .

737. GDA-9868 whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate- crisis-at-home-and-abroad/ (accessed March 17, 2023). .

738. GDA-9938 Trump, "Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West," October 19, 2018, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/presidential- memorandum-promoting-reliable-supply-delivery-water-west/ (accessed March 17, 2023). .

739. GDA-9949 For example: l The Federal Bureau of Investigation, knowing that claims of collusion with Russia were false,5 collaborated with Democratic operatives to inject the story into the 2016 election through strategic media leaks, falsified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications, and lied to Congress.6 l Personnel within the FBI engaged in a campaign to convince social media companies and the media generally that the story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop was the result of a Russian misinformation campaign --- while the FBI had possession of the laptop the entire time and could have clarified the authenticity of the source.7 l The DOJ engaged in conduct to chill the free speech rights of parents across the United States in response to supposed "threats" against school boards,8 yet it failed to engage in any concerted campaign to protect the rights of Americans who actually were terrorized by acts of violence like those perpetrated against pregnancy care centers.9 l The FBI tasked agents with monitoring social media and flagging content they deemed to be "misinformation" or "disinformation" (not associated with any plausible criminal conspiracy to deprive anyone of any rights) for platforms to remove.10 l The FBI engaged in a domestic influence operation to pressure social media companies to report more "foreign influence" than the FBI was actually seeing and stop the dissemination of and censor true information directly related to the 2020 presidential election.11 l The department has devoted unprecedented resources to prosecuting American citizens for misdemeanor trespassing offenses or violations of the FACE Act12 while dismissing prosecutions against radical agents of the Left like Antifa.13 l The department has consistently threatened that any conduct not aligning with the liberal agenda "could" violate federal law --- without actually taking a position that the conduct in question is illegal --- using the prospect of protracted litigation and federal sanctions to chill disfavored behavior such as with state efforts to restrict abortion14 or prevent genital mutilation of children.15 l The department has sued multiple states regarding their efforts to enhance election integrity.16 l The department has failed to do its part to stop the flood of fentanyl and other deadly drugs that are flowing across our borders and decimating families and communities across the United States.17 l The department has abdicated its responsibility to assist in the enforcement of our immigration laws and has engaged in wholescale abandonment of its duty to adjudicate cases in the immigration court system. .

740. GDA-10009 The Director of the FBI must remain politically accountable to the President in the same manner as the head of any other federal department or agency. .

741. GDA-10065 The DOJ's China Initiative under President Trump reflected the department's priority of combating Chinese threats to our national security.51 Because China was accountable for approximately 80 percent of all prosecutions for economic espionage and approximately 60 percent of all thefts of trade secrets, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions set key goals for the China Initiative that included development of an enforcement strategy concerning researchers in labs and universities who were being coopted into stealing critical U.S. .

742. GDA-10083 l Ensure that upon the next President's inauguration, appointees at the department obtain information about anything that was not learned before taking office and conduct the same analysis. .

743. GDA-10098 This can cause the department to take positions that are inconsistent with the interests of the President and his appointees in other places throughout the Administration. .

744. GDA-10099 While the supervision of litigation is a DOJ responsibility, the department falls under the direct supervision and control of the President of the United States as a component of the executive branch. .

745. GDA-10100 Thus, and putting aside criminal prosecutions that can warrant different treatment, litigation decisions must be made consistent with the President's agenda. .

746. GDA-10101 This can force line attorneys to take uncomfortable positions in civil cases because those positions are more closely aligned with the President's policy agenda. .

747. GDA-10102 Ultimately, the department will have to make tough calls as it manages its litigation, but those calls must always be consistent with the President's policy agenda and the rule of law. .

748. GDA-10103 A line attorney should never either directly or indirectly pursue a policy agenda through litigation that is inconsistent with the agenda of his or her client agency or the President. .

749. GDA-10105 The next conservative Administration should therefore: l Issue guidance to ensure that litigation decisions are consistent with the President's agenda and the rule of law. .

750. GDA-10114 United States.62 This case approved so-called independent agencies whose directors are not removable by the President at will. .

751. GDA-10160 With respect to the 2020 presidential election, there were no DOJ investigations of the appropriateness or lawfulness of state election guidance. .

752. GDA-10183 Attorney to "convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders" to discuss strategies for addressing "threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."87 Subsequent reporting and investigation revealed that the memorandum was prompted by a September 29, 2021, letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden demanding a federal law enforcement response to perceived threats to school board members and public- school employees. .

753. GDA-10191 When used properly, they can be highly effective in implementing the President's priorities. .

754. GDA-10193 The opportunity to support a President's agenda may be greater through OJP grant funding than it is through any of the federal government's other grant-making components. .

755. GDA-10199 To receive grant funding, a recipient must agree to certain conditions, which in many instances include the President's priorities. .

756. GDA-10201 These conditions worked to change culture and overlayed President Obama's priorities: support for the LGBTQ community and for more of the funding to go to areas with large immigrant populations. .

757. GDA-10218 l Examine and consider the appropriateness of withdrawing or overturning every immigration decision rendered by Attorney General Garland (and any successor Attorney General during President Biden's term). .

758. GDA-10219 The Attorney General should pick up where the Attorneys General under President Trump left off and exercise his or her authority to adjudicate cases and provide guidance in appropriate cases to correct erroneous decisions, provide clarity, and align Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) decisions with the law. .

759. GDA-10234 Ensuring adequate accountability throughout the DOJ requires the intentional devotion of sufficient resources by the Administration --- not simply replicating what was done under prior Administrations and reflected in the Plum Book.97 The number of appointees serving throughout the department in prior Administrations --- particularly during the Trump Administration --- has not been sufficient either to stop bad things from happening through proper management or to promote the President's agenda. .

760. GDA-10238 Considering all of the many challenges facing the DOJ, the next conservative Administration should terminate and recall all details of DOJ personnel shortly after the President's inauguration. .

761. GDA-10275 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter involved contributions from members of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

762. GDA-10502 Garcia, President, NSBA, and Chip Slavin, Interim Executive Director and CEO, to President Joseph R. .

763. GDA-10503 Biden, "Re: Federal Assistance to Stop Threats and Acts of Violence Against Public Schoolchildren, Public School Board Members, and Other Public School District Officials and Educators," September 29, 2021, https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21098209/nsba-letter-to-president-biden-concerning-threats-to- public-schools-and-school-board-members-929211.pdf (accessed February 4, 2023). .

764. GDA-10510 Ravnsborg, South Dakota Attorney General; and Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General to President Joseph R. .

765. GDA-10516 Kiko, Final Report on the Events Surrounding the National School Boards Association's September 29, 2021, Letter to the President, n.d., https://www.nsba.org/-/media/Files/NSBA-Report. .

766. GDA-10535 97. "Every four years, just after the Presidential election, the 'United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions,' commonly known as the Plum Book, is published, alternately, by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform." Senate Committee Print No. .

767. GDA-10566 The President should: l Issue an executive order banning, and Congress should pass a law prohibiting the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to fund, all critical race theory training (CRT). .

768. GDA-10568 The President should direct the Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII to prohibit racial classifications and quotas, including human-resources classifications and DEI trainings that promote critical race theory. .

769. GDA-10580 The President should: l Sign an executive order explicitly forbidding OFCCP from using disparate impact in its analysis. .

770. GDA-10585 In addition, under EO 11246, the President and DOL can force a huge swath of American employers to comply with rules and regulations based on novel anti- discrimination theories (such as sexual orientation and gender identity theories) that Congress had never imposed by statute. .

771. GDA-10587 The President should eliminate OFCCP by simply rescinding EO 11246. .

772. GDA-10589 (Contractors' residual obligations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) could be enforced by EEOC or DOL.) Contractors also would be less subject to the changing political whims of a President that might impose significant new costs or burdens on the contractors. .

773. GDA-10597 l Withdraw unlawful "notices" and "guidances." The President should direct agencies to withdraw unlawful "notices" and "guidances" purporting to apply Bostock's reasoning broadly outside hiring and firing. .

774. GDA-10599 The President should direct agencies to rescind regulations interpreting sex discrimination provisions as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, sex characteristics, etc. .

775. GDA-10601 The President should direct agencies to focus their enforcement of sex discrimination laws on the biological binary meaning of "sex." PRO-LIFE MEASURES l Promote pro-life workplace accommodations for mothers. .

776. GDA-10617 The President should make clear via executive order that religious employers are free to run their businesses according to their religious beliefs, general nondiscrimination laws notwithstanding, and support participation of religious employees and employers as federal contractors and in federal activities and programs. .

777. GDA-10738 In October 2019, President Trump signed an executive order ending this abusive practice and created a new, fairer system for American businesses and their employees. .

778. GDA-10788 The President should direct the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy to adopt the civil service's skills-based hiring standards for federal contractors and issue waivers from degree-based staffing requirements in existing contracts. .

779. GDA-10839 Under President Trump, OLMS required unions to disclose involvement in trusts that they either own a majority stake in or control. .

780. GDA-11074 For future authorizations of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the President should urge Congress to: l Create mechanisms for supply-chain transparency. .

781. GDA-11114 2. President Lyndon B. .

782. GDA-11309 However, over the course of decades, presidential Administrations and Congress have caused the FHWA to go beyond its original mission. .

783. GDA-11462 MARITIME POLICY The Maritime Administration (MARAD) was established by President Harry Truman in 1950 and was transferred to DOT in 1981. .

784. GDA-11496 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

785. GDA-11715 l Support the White House Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO) in identifying a fully vetted roster of candidates to assume all key positions at VA well ahead of formal nominations. .

786. GDA-11738 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

787. GDA-11764 Section Four THE ECONOMY The next Administration must prioritize the economic prosperity of ordinary Americans. .

788. GDA-11768 In Chapter 26, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Kent Lassman and former White House director of trade and manufacturing policy Peter Navarro debate what an effective conservative trade policy would look like. .

789. GDA-11776 He thinks free trade will improve our economy, enhance our national security, and keep future left-leaning Congresses from insisting that future left-leaning Presidents "negotiate for as many trade-unrelated provisions as possible to benefit labor and green constituencies." Navarro disagrees with Lassman almost across the board. .

790. GDA-11791 Gilman describes the Department of Commerce as dominated by career staff who are uninterested in implementing the President's priorities. .

791. GDA-11818 Intended to serve with clarity of purpose as the voice of business in any President's Cabinet, the Department of Commerce has suffered from decades of regulatory capture, ideological drift, and lack of focus. .

792. GDA-11825 Though not an exhaustive set of proposals, the next conservative President should consider whether: l The International Trade Administration (ITA) and parts of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) should be streamlined and moved to the Office of the U.S. .

793. GDA-11837 The Trump Administration began implementing key changes, such as updating financial management tools, but more must be done to digitize and modernize the department's processes to free resources for secretarial and presidential priorities. .

794. GDA-11838 The above drain on resources leaves the Secretary of Commerce to rely upon a few dozen direct support staff, supplemented with detailees and indirect funding from each of the bureaus to execute the President's agenda and manage the diverse functions of the department. .

795. GDA-11841 Department of Commerce leadership should also fight to restore direct funding and additional political appointee positions to OS and its constituent parts involved in implementing and communicating the Commerce Secretary's and President's policy priorities. .

796. GDA-12083 The President should, by executive order, direct the Office of Space Commerce, working with the National Space Council, to establish a whole-of-government policy for licensing and oversight of commercial space operations. .

797. GDA-12104 To move bureaucracy on key priorities, appointed staff should be in place at the Bureau as early as feasible after a new President takes office. .

798. GDA-12184 MBDA was established in 1969 by President Richard Nixon under Executive Order 114584 as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise and the Advisory Council for Minority Business Enterprise. .

799. GDA-12186 For over 50 years, the MBDA operated under executive order without clear congressional authorization, but was regularly recognized and promoted by every subsequent president, including Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.5 MBDA has the appearance, on its face, of perpetuating racial bias by focusing on minority advancement rather than economic need or other criteria. .

800. GDA-12258 CONCLUSION The above policies, strategies, and tactics will set a new Administration on firm footing that allows the Department of Commerce to assist the President in implementing a bold agenda that delivers economic prosperity and strong national security to the American people. .

801. GDA-12260 AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter includes invaluable input from over a dozen alumni of the Department of Commerce and numerous other members of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

802. GDA-12285 13873, May 15, 2019, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential- actions/executive-order-securing-information-communications-technology-services-supply-chain/ (accessed March 20, 2023). .

803. GDA-12296 No President in modern times --- perhaps ever --- has been more fiscally reckless than has the Biden Administration. .

804. GDA-12330 This office also provides revenue estimates for the President's budget. .

805. GDA-12426 The IRS has approximately 81,000 employees.36 Of those, only two are presidential appointments --- the Commissioner and the Chief Counsel.37 As a practical matter, it is impossible for these two officials to overcome bureaucratic inertia and to implement policy changes that the IRS bureaucracy wants to impede. .

806. GDA-12428 For the IRS to change and become more accountable, more transparent, and better managed, there is a need to increase the number of Presidential appointments subject to Senate confirmation, and not subject to Senate confirmation, at the IRS. .

807. GDA-12429 At the very least, Congress should ensure that the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, the National Taxpayer Advocate, the Commissioner of the Wage and Investment Division, the Commissioner of the Large Business and International Division, the Commissioner of the Small Business Self-Employed Division, and the Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division are presidential appointees.38 Information Technology. .

808. GDA-12434 A Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support with strong IT management skills should be appointed by the IRS Commissioner or the President (once the position is made a presidential appointment). .

809. GDA-12553 Treasury should take the lead in the next President's legislative vision guided by the following principles: l Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (both GSEs) must he wound down in an orderly manner. .

810. GDA-12618 AUTHORS' NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

811. GDA-12747 Rossotti was named IRS Commissioner by President Bill Clinton primarily so that Rossotti could address widely acknowledged IT issues. .

812. GDA-12840 In 1986, David Stockman, who served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, wrote that: Export subsidies are a mercantilist illusion, based on the illogical proposition that a nation can raise its employment and GNP by giving away its goods for less than what it costs to make them."¦ Export subsidies subtract from GNP and jobs, not expand them"¦. .

813. GDA-12848 President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 6581 gave it "the power to aid in financing and to facilitate exports and imports and the exchange of commodities between the United States and other Nations or the agencies and nationals thereof" to create jobs in the United States.2 EXIM has four main tools with which to pursue these goals: loan guarantees, working capital guarantees, direct loans, and export-credit insurance. .

814. GDA-12866 EXIM presidents commonly claim that the agency's mission is to support U.S. .

815. GDA-12881 Recent expressions of this fallacious belief can be found in a book by former EXIM President Fred Hochberg. .

816. GDA-12935 President Trump used this argument to secure reauthorization of EXIM in 2019. .

817. GDA-12936 Today, President Biden argues that the Bank could be a powerful weapon in the government's geoeconomic arsenal against China. .

818. GDA-12956 THE CASE FOR THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK Jennifer Hazelton In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill extending the charter of the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) by an additional six years. .

819. GDA-12957 In a signing statement attached to the bill, the President declared that "[t]his sends an important signal to both our exporting community and foreign suppliers that American exporters will continue to be able to compete vigorously for business throughout the world."34 As a candidate for President, Ronald Reagan was opposed to EXIM, but as President, he learned the challenges America's businesses face when competing for opportunities overseas, and his position on EXIM evolved. .

820. GDA-12958 As President Reagan once famously remarked, "Why would I want our businesses competing with two hands tied behind their backs?" On January 30, 1984, the President said, "Exports create and sustain jobs for millions of American workers and contribute to the growth and strength of the United States economy. .

821. GDA-12959 The Export-Import Bank contributes in a significant way to our nation's export sales." President Reagan was exactly right. .

822. GDA-13017 2. President Franklin D. .

823. GDA-13082 34. President Ronald Reagan, "Statement on Signing the Export-Import Bank Act Amendments of 1986," October 15, 1986, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-export-import-bank-act- amendments-1986 (accessed February 22, 2023). .

824. GDA-13181 Transitioning to free banking would require political authorities, including Congress and the President, to coordinate on multiple reforms simultaneously. .

825. GDA-13265 A CBDC would provide unprecedented surveillance and potential control of financial transactions without providing added benefits available through existing technologies.34 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

826. GDA-13331 Deposit insurance undermines the former, as even President Franklin Roosevelt recognized. .

827. GDA-13376 Although PPP worked through private lenders and as a result experienced relatively less fraud than EIDL experienced, it is estimated "that at least 70,000 [PPP] loans were potentially fraudulent."6 ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND CORE FUNCTIONS In 1954, the agency began to execute such core functions as "making and guaranteeing loans for small businesses," "ensuring that small businesses earn a 'fair proportion' of government contracts and sales of surplus property," and "provid[ing] business owners with management and business training."7 In 1970, President Richard Nixon's Executive Order 11518 enhanced the agency's advocacy role by providing for the "increased representation of the interests of small business concerns before departments and agencies of the United States Government."8 This advocacy role was strengthened with the adoption of the Small Business Amendments of 1974,9 which established the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, and was then reinforced and expanded in 1976 with the creation of the Office of Advocacy, providing additional resources to ensure that small businesses had a voice in the regulatory process. .

828. GDA-13378 The RFA requires federal agencies "to consider the effects of their regulations on small businesses and other small entities,"11 and the Office of Advocacy is charged with ensuring that federal agencies abide by the law and is required to provide an annual report to the President and the Senate and House Committees on Small Business.12 In addition, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA) of 201613 established a new role for the Office of Advocacy: "to facilitate greater consideration of small business economic issues during international trade negotiations."14 This small office has been relatively effective over the years --- and more productive during periods when a strong Chief Counsel for Advocacy has been installed to utilize the Office of Advocacy's authority aggressively to provide a check on regulatory overreach. .

829. GDA-13390 President Ronald Reagan cut the SBA's budget by more than 30 percent, and his annual budgets regularly proposed to eliminate the agency altogether.15 Under President George W. .

830. GDA-13392 In 2016, President Barack Obama considered streamlining and combining SBA programs and other business-related agencies and programs under one entity at the U.S. .

831. GDA-13399 House of Representatives have gone farther, specifying that the SBA needs to improve transparency and accountability and deal with mission creep, the expansion of unauthorized programs, and structural and reporting deficiencies that have allowed mismanagement and fraud to reoccur, largely through massive supplemental appropriations.27 The SBA is led by an Administrator (currently a member of the President's Cabinet) and a Deputy Administrator. .

832. GDA-13408 For example, even though the SBA under President Donald Trump proposed a rule to remove all of the unconstitutional religious exclusions from its regulations29 to conform with Supreme Court decisions that have made their unconstitutionality clear, the SBA has not acted on the proposed rule and still uses religious exclusions in determining eligibility for business loans. .

833. GDA-13409 Several other specific concerns include but are not limited to: l The SBA's request to become a "designated voter agency" in response to President Biden's executive order on "Promoting Access to Voting."30 l The creation of duplicative channels and "pilot programs" for the delivery of business training rather than working through existing counseling partners. .

834. GDA-13443 This would be similar to the approach adopted by President Trump in his January and February 2017 executive orders directing agencies to relieve the cost and burden of regulation on business.37 Advocacy should organize regional roundtables, onsite small-business visits, and an online platform to hear directly from small businesses and entities as it did from June 2017 through September 2018.38 This activity produced 26 letters to federal agencies and highlighted specific regulations that need reform and how Congress had addressed the most burdensome rules through the Congressional Review Act.39 COVID-19 Lending Program Accountability and Cleanup. .

835. GDA-13510 l The Fair and Open Competition Act71 would disallow the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) in federal contracting as required in President Biden's Executive Order 14063,72 which puts small businesses at a competitive disadvantage and works against the SBA's governmentwide contracting goal for small businesses. .

836. GDA-13517 The SBA Administrator and leadership team must share the President's mission and vision and execute the Administration's policies effectively. .

837. GDA-13524 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

838. GDA-13545 8. President Richard Nixon, Executive Order 11518, "Providing for the Increased Representation of the Interests of Small Business Concerns Before Departments and Agencies of the United States Government," March 20, 1970, in Federal Register, Vol. .

839. GDA-13570 Barreto, Administrator, Small Business Administration, in hearing, The President's FY 2006 Budget Request for the Small Business Administration, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, U.S. .

840. GDA-13610 30. President Joseph R. .

841. GDA-13632 37. President Donald J. .

842. GDA-13637 gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-02-03/pdf/2017-02451.pdf (accessed February 19, 2023), and President Donald J. .

843. GDA-13730 72. President Joseph R. .

844. GDA-13778 As President Donald Trump indicated in announcing his 2017 National Security Strategy, "economic security is national security."7 CHALLENGE #1: UNFAIR AND NONRECIPROCAL TRADE INSTITUTIONALIZED IN WTO RULES Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the exact same product that they sell to us. .

845. GDA-13779 President Donald J. .

846. GDA-13815 Under current United States laws and regulations, an American President has limited ability to fight back against the higher MFN tariffs now being levied against American workers, farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers. .

847. GDA-13817 To address this nonreciprocity stalemate, President Trump urged Congress in his 2019 State of the Union address to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act (USRTA).12 Under the USRTA, the President would have the authority to bring any American trading partner that is currently applying higher nonreciprocal tariffs to the negotiating table. .

848. GDA-13819 levels, the President then would have the authority to raise U.S. .

849. GDA-13822 The following month, a Harvard-Harris poll of 1,792 registered voters found that 80 percent of respondents supported the USRTA.13 As Representative Duffy noted at the time, the purpose of granting the President these authorities was not to raise tariffs. .

850. GDA-13823 Rather, it was to give the President, working in close consultation with Congress, a sophisticated and targeted tool that he could use to force other countries to lower their tariffs and nontariff barriers.14 Following the introduction of the USRTA, the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (which the author directed) ran simulations to estimate the impact that implementation of the USRTA might have on the overall U.S. .

851. GDA-13849 If the USRTA were enacted, a President would likely have to prioritize which countries he should negotiate with first. .

852. GDA-13868 FIGURE 1Mapping Bilateral Trade Deficits Against Tari Di erentials β–  Largest bilateral trade deficit and/or largest tariΒ‹ diΒ‹erential β–  Second-to-largest bilateral trade deficit and/or second-to-largest bilateral tariΒ‹ diΒ‹erential β–  Smallest bilateral trade deficit and/or smallest tariΒ‹ diΒ‹erential the American President, and then under Scenario Two, in which the U.S. .

853. GDA-13898 This is because under the powers provided by the USRTA, if a foreign country imposes significantly higher nontariff barriers, then the President has the authority to "negotiate and seek to enter into an agreement" that "commits the country to"¦ eliminate [its] nontariff barriers."16 If the country refuses to come to the negotiating table and lower its nontariff barriers, the President has the authority to levy reciprocal duties to offset or mirror those barriers. .

854. GDA-13911 Xi has promised that the deed will be done by 2049, the 100-year anniversary of the Communist takeover of the Mainland.19 In light of Communist China's broader geopolitical and military agenda, the American President who takes office in January 2025 must view the U.S.-China trade relationship and associated policy reforms within the context of the broader existential threat posed by Communist China. .

855. GDA-13912 The question is whether that next President should seek to decouple economically and financially from Communist China as America's first best response to China's unrelenting aggression or continue efforts to negotiate with an authoritarian country and brutal dictatorship with a well-established reputation for failing to abide by any agreements it enters. .

856. GDA-13966 The question: How should the next American President address this aggression? Policy responses range from further attempts to negotiate with the CCP to strategically decoupling economically and financially from Communist China. .

857. GDA-13970 In September 2015, President Barack Obama stood with Xi Jinping in the White House Rose Garden where Xi solemnly promised not to militarize the South China Sea and agreed that Communist China would not conduct knowingly cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property.31 Within a year, the first promise would be broken.32 As for Communist China's cyberattacks on American businesses, they have never stopped. .

858. GDA-13971 Upon taking office in 2017, President Trump put on hold his 2016 campaign promise to put high tariffs on Chinese products immediately. .

859. GDA-13974 As a result, on June 15, President Trump began to impose a series of tariffs33 on Chinese products that would eventually rise to cover more than $500 billion of Chinese imports. .

860. GDA-13980 An equally clear lesson learned by President Trump, which he was ready to implement in a second term, was that the better policy option was to decouple both economically and financially from Communist China as further negotiations would indeed be both fruitless and dangerous. .

861. GDA-13985 The next American President should strongly consider adopting all of them as a package: l Strategically expand tariffs to all Chinese products and increase tariff rates to levels that will block out "Made in China" products, and execute this strategy in a manner and at a pace that will not expose the U.S. .

862. GDA-14010 l Hold the CCP accountable for the COVID-19 virus, which almost certainly originated as a genetically engineered virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and do so through the establishment of a presidential commission or select congressional committee that would investigate the origins of the virus; its various costs, both economically and in human life; and the possible means of collecting damages from the CCP, which are likely to rise to the trillions of dollars. .

863. GDA-14012 President wishes to defend this country against the serious existential threat posed by Communist China, that President will adopt all of these proposals through the requisite presidential executive orders or memoranda. .

864. GDA-14021 During his first term, President Donald Trump preached that there can be no free trade without fair, reciprocal, and balanced trade. .

865. GDA-14022 He was right then, and whoever is the next President in 2025 should heed this critical principle whenever the flag of free trade is waved to prevent the adoption of needed reforms. .

866. GDA-14041 Suppose, for example, that under the USRTA the American President persuaded India to reduce its very high protectionist tariffs and Japan to lower its formidable nontariff barriers. .

867. GDA-14068 The lessons of the Nixon, Reagan, and Trump Administrations teach us that "personnel is policy" or, in this case, that "bad personnel will mean bad trade policy."39 That is why it will be equally critical to the next President's trade policy agenda to have key personnel in place who not only have the skills to implement the policies, but also have the firm commitment to do so. .

868. GDA-14069 During the Trump Administration, President Trump's key policy advisers and Cabinet officials clashed on the issues of international trade and combating Communist China's economic aggression. .

869. GDA-14070 As much as President Trump did on the trade front that was bold and innovative and as much as he achieved by challenging Communist China, too much of his trade policy was disrupted or derailed by key personnel who did not share the President's vision of fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade. .

870. GDA-14075 Lighthizer, who not only had a keen understanding of the various legal levers a President can use to advance trade policy, but also was committed to the President's fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade agenda. .

871. GDA-14081 During the Trump Administration, with the notable exception of the President's third National Security Adviser, Robert O'Brien, and third CEA Chairman, Tyler Goodspeed, this regrettably was not the case. .

872. GDA-14083 Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962,40 the President has the authority, through tariffs or other means, to reduce imports from other countries "if the President determines that such reduction or elimination would threaten to impair the national security." As a practical matter, the Secretary of Commerce spearheads any Section 232 cases, but in order to proceed with a Section 232 case, Commerce must obtain signoff from the Secretary of Defense. .

873. GDA-14084 When President Trump wanted to implement steel and aluminum tariffs, he had a willing servant in Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. .

874. GDA-14130 The next American President should use this aspect of trade to the nation's advantage. .

875. GDA-14184 Work with Congress to pass legislation repealing those provisions so future Presidents cannot abuse them. .

876. GDA-14197 l Work with Congress to restore the President's Trade Promotion Authority, which would expedite the negotiation of trade agreements with the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Taiwan, the European Union, and other allies, and keep trade-unrelated provisions out of trade agreements. .

877. GDA-14213 The first order of business for a new Administration that is focused on American workers and consumers is to repeal all tariffs enacted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 196251 and Sections 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.52 The President can do this unilaterally, and Congress can do it through legislation. .

878. GDA-14216 Constitution places all taxing authority with Congress53 and none with the President. .

879. GDA-14217 Congress used those provisions of law to delegate some of its taxing authority to the President because it was having trouble passing "clean" tariff legislation in the 1960s and 1970s. .

880. GDA-14218 Unless and until this constitutional question about delegation is addressed, important reforms are available to the next Congress and the next President. .

881. GDA-14222 The thinking was that the President, whose constituency is the entire nation, would be less prone to special-interest pleading than Members of Congress would be, so Congress delegated some of its tariff-making authority to the President in 1962 and 1974 trade legislation. .

882. GDA-14241 The next President should ignore special interests and populist ideologues who want government to do the opposite through industrial policy, trade protectionism, and other failed progressive policies. .

883. GDA-14279 Two presidential Administrations is a long time in politics, and the next conservative Administration will have a tough time getting tariff relief past a bureaucracy that dislikes change and special interests that will fight hard to preserve their special privileges. .

884. GDA-14294 These include: l Less restrictive zoning and permit rules; l Occupational licensing reform; l Automatic sunsets for new regulations; and l A presidentially appointed Regulatory Reduction Commission that would examine the Code of Federal Regulations each year and send repeal packages to Congress that include old, obsolete, redundant, and harmful regulations.67 People who need help should be able to get it. .

885. GDA-14331 The President needs to encourage bold liberalization. .

886. GDA-14337 It should not be that way, and the next President can change it. .

887. GDA-14385 At the very least, this can make the Federal Reserve's job easier as the spending excesses of Congress and President Biden continue unabated in the coming years. .

888. GDA-14407 One way to accelerate the process is for Congress to grant the President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). .

889. GDA-14411 The President should work with Congress to renew TPA to rationalize negotiations for upcoming trade agreements with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and others. .

890. GDA-14413 As things currently stand, Congress has some oversight powers over the President's negotiations under TPA, but they are limited. .

891. GDA-14416 A Congress that largely favors free trade could exercise oversight to keep the President on the straight and narrow in trade negotiations. .

892. GDA-14417 A progressive Congress would instead insist that the President negotiate for as many trade-unrelated provisions as possible to benefit labor and green constituencies while pushing progressive policies on the U.S. .

893. GDA-14485 The agency will close automatically unless Congress and the President decide to extend it. .

894. GDA-14520 President Biden began the process to create IPEF in 2022, but any agreement will likely still be under negotiation when the next Administration takes office. .

895. GDA-14586 8. "Remarks by President Trump in State of the Union Address," The White House, February 5, 2019, https:// trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-state-union-address-2/ (accessed February 25, 2023). .

896. GDA-14602 20. Executive Office of the President, United States Trade Representative, 2017 Report to Congress on China's WTO Compliance, January 2018, https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Reports/China%202017%20WTO%20Report.pdf (accessed February 25, 2023). .

897. GDA-14621 29. Press release, "President Trump Announces Strong Actions to Address China's Unfair Trade," Office of the United States Trade Representative, March 22, 2018, https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/ press-releases/2018/march/president-trump-announces-strong (accessed February 25, 2023). .

898. GDA-14623 31. "Remarks by President Obama and President Xi of the People's Republic of China in Joint Press Conference," The White House, September 25, 2015, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the- pressffice/2015/09/25/remarks-president-obama-and-president-xi-peoples-republic-china-joint (accessed February 25, 2023). .

899. GDA-14743 Section Five INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES In addition to the executive departments and agencies discussed previously, a number of independent commissions exist that are loosely affiliated with the executive branch. .

900. GDA-14744 In general, the President can appoint people to these commissions but cannot remove them, which makes them constitutionally problematic in light of the Constitution's having vested federal executive power in the President. .

901. GDA-14746 Few appointments to these commissions will be as important as the President's selection of the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). .

902. GDA-14754 entities from directly or indirectly contributing to China's malign AI goals ." Former Federal Election Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky writes in Chapter 29 that while "the authority of the President over the actions of" the Federal Election Commission "is extremely limited," the President "must ensure that the [Justice Department], just like the FEC, is directed to only prosecute clear violations" of the Federal Election Campaign Act. .

903. GDA-14758 Moreover, he writes that the "President should vigorously oppose all efforts" --- such as the language in the "For the People Act of 2021" --- "to change the structure of the FEC" so that it would have an "odd number" of members. .

904. GDA-14841 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

905. GDA-14846 In 2015, for example, Investor's Business Daily accused the CFPB of "diverting potentially millions of dollars in settlement payments for alleged victims of lending bias to a slush fund for poverty groups tied to the Democratic Party" and planning "to create a so-called Civil Penalty Fund from its own shakedown operations targeting financial institutions" that would use "ramped-up (and trumped-up) anti-discrimination lawsuits and investigations" to "bankroll some 60 liberal nonprofits, many of whom are radical Acorn-style pressure groups."34 The CFPB has a fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget of $653.2 million35 and 1,635 full- time equivalent (FTE) employees.36 From FY 2012 through FY 2020, it imposed approximately $1.25 billion in civil money penalties;37 in FY 2022, it imposed approximately $172.5 million in civil money penalties.38 These penalties are imposed by the CFPB Civil Penalty Fund, described as "a victims relief fund, into which the CFPB deposits civil penalties it collects in judicial and administrative actions under Federal consumer financial laws."39 The CFPB is headed by a single Director who is appointed by the President to a five-year term.40 Its organizational structure includes five divisions: Operations; Consumer Education and External Affairs; Legal; Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending; and Research, Monitoring and Regulations.41 Each of these divisions reports to the Office of the Director, except for the Operations Division, which reports to the Deputy Director. .

906. GDA-14853 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,45 the Supreme Court of the United States held that the CFPB's leadership by a single individual removable only for inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance violated constitutional separation of powers requirements because "[t]he Constitution requires that such officials remain dependent on the President, who in turn is accountable to the people."46 The CFPB Director is thus subject to removal by the President. .

907. GDA-14862 Provided the Supreme Court affirms the Fifth Circuit holding in Community Financial Services Association of America, the next conservative President should order the immediate dissolution of the agency --- pull down its prior rules, regulations and guidance, return its staff to their prior agencies and its building to the General Services Administration. .

908. GDA-14916 See Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, "Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions: Active Regulatory Actions Listed by Agency," https://www.reginfo.gov/ public/do/eAgendaMain (accessed February 20, 2023); "Human Capital Management Disclosure," RIN: 3235- AM88, https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202204&RIN=3235-AM88 (accessed February 20, 2023); "Corporate Board Diversity," RIN: 3235-AL91, https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202204&RIN=3235-AL91 (accessed February 20, 2023). .

909. GDA-15058 OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND The FCC is an independent regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable.1 Five Commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for fixed five-year terms.2 The FCC does not have any other presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed officials. .

910. GDA-15059 Ordinarily, the five-member FCC is divided politically three to two with a majority of Commissioners from the same political party as the President. .

911. GDA-15060 The Commissioners' terms are staggered so that every year at the end of June, one Commissioner's term expires.3 However, a Commissioner can continue to serve until the end of the next session of Congress (or up to 1.5 years beyond the expiration of the term) if no replacement is confirmed after his or her term ends.4 By law, only a bare majority of Commissioners can be from the same political party (no more than three when there are five members).5 By tradition, the Chairperson resigns when a new President of a different political party is sworn into office --- though this is not required by law. .

912. GDA-15061 By resigning, the exiting Commissioner enables the President to nominate someone from his own political party to the FCC, and this typically shifts the political balance on the FCC toward the President's political party. .

913. GDA-15062 The President generally designates one of the existing Commissioners of the President's same political party as Chairperson --- either on an acting or a permanent basis --- on or shortly after Inauguration Day. .

914. GDA-15063 Under a tradition that dates back a few decades, when a relevant vacancy arises, the President allows the leader of the opposite political party in the Senate to select the person who will serve in the minority Commissioner role. .

915. GDA-15064 The President then formally nominates the person identified by Senate leadership. .

916. GDA-15066 As specified in the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC's Chairperson serves as the agency's CEO and is empowered with significant authority that is not shared with other Commissioners.6 For instance, the Chairperson sets the FCC's agenda, decides what matters the agency will vote on and when, and has authority to organize and coordinate the FCC's work.7 There is no separate Senate confirmation process for the position of FCC Chairperson; the President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson through a short one-sentence or two-sentence letter.8 There are no limits on the number of terms that a person can serve as an FCC Commissioner, though Commissioners need to be nominated and confirmed for each five-year term. .

917. GDA-15094 As one of the FCC's previous General Counsels noted, the FCC has authority to take this action because Section 230 is codified in the Communications Act.16 The FCC's Section 230 reforms should track the positions outlined in a July 2020 Petition for Rulemaking filed at the FCC near the end of the Trump Administration.17 Any new presidential Administration should consider filing a similar or new petition. .

918. GDA-15264 President Franklin D. .

919. GDA-15277 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

920. GDA-15294 There are no limits on the President's authority to designate a different Chairperson from among the existing Commissioners. .

921. GDA-15295 Further, though it is an open question, it is generally believed that the judiciary would impose limits on the power of the President to remove a Commissioner during his or her five-year term. .

922. GDA-15301 602 (1935), when it was not entirely clear that Congress could impose a limit on the President's removal power. .

923. GDA-15303 Considering the high-profile contemporary debates about the appointment and removal of independent counsels under the Independent Counsel Act, one could reasonably assume that Congress was aware of removal powers and protections for presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officials. .

924. GDA-15350 144, "Federal Communications Commission: Message from the President of the United States Recommending that Congress Create a New Agency to be Known as the Federal Communications Commission," U.S. .

925. GDA-15357 Justice Department has criminal enforcement authority, which is defined as a knowing and willful violation of the law.3 Because the FEC is an independent agency and not a division or office directly within the executive branch, the authority of the President over the actions of the FEC is extremely limited. .

926. GDA-15360 The President's most significant power is the appointment of the six commissioners who govern the FEC, subject to confirmation by the U.S. .

927. GDA-15363 Under FECA, no more than three commissioners may be from the same party.6 While that means that a commissioner could be an independent or a member of the Libertarian or Green Parties, in practice, this has meant that the FEC has always had three Democrat and three Republican commissioners.7 There is a long-held political tradition since the FEC's founding that when a commission slot held by a member of the opposition political party opens up, the President consults with, and nominates, the chosen nominee of the opposition party's leader in the Senate. .

928. GDA-15364 In exchange, the Senate party leader and his caucus agree to approve the President's nominee to fill an empty position for the President's political party. .

929. GDA-15366 Thus, by convention, a Republican President will nominate a Republican and a Democrat for two open commission slots, including the choice of the Democrat Senate leader for his party's seat. .

930. GDA-15369 Bush's nominees (Hans von Spakovsky) for a Republican commission slot.8 In 2025, when a new President assumes office, the term of five of the current FEC commissioners will have either expired or be about to expire:9 l Shana M. .

931. GDA-15373 l The President assuming office in 2025 must ensure, if the three Republican commissioners do not wish to remain on the FEC past their terms, that nominees for these positions share the views of those commissioners. .

932. GDA-15374 l Also, to the extent that the President has the ability to negotiate with the Democratic Party leader in the Senate, he should try to temper any choice of the opposition party to ensure that this individual does not have extreme views on aggressive overenforcement that would severely restrict political speech and protected party, campaign, and associational activities. .

933. GDA-15377 The President does have control of the Department of Justice (DOJ). .

934. GDA-15378 Thus, he has authority as President, primarily through his choice of attorney general and other political appointees, to direct the prosecutorial functions of the DOJ regarding criminal enforcement of FECA. .

935. GDA-15381 l The President must ensure that the DOJ, just like the FEC, is directed to only prosecute clear violations of FECA. .

936. GDA-15384 l The President should direct the DOJ and the attorney general not to prosecute individuals under an interpretation of the law with which the FEC --- the expert agency designated by Congress to enforce the law civilly and issue regulations establishing the standards under which the law is applied --- does not agree. .

937. GDA-15400 l The President should direct the attorney general to defend the FEC in all litigation when there is a failure of the commissioners to authorize the general counsel of the agency to defend it. .

938. GDA-15402 l As a legislative matter and given this abuse, the President should seriously consider recommending that Congress amend FECA to remove the agency's independent litigating authority and rely on the Department of Justice to handle all litigation involving the FEC. .

939. GDA-15406 l The President should request that the commissioners on the FEC prepare such guidance. .

940. GDA-15407 l In the event that the FEC fails to act, the President should direct the attorney general to prepare a guidance document from the Department of Justice for the public that outlines all of the FECA statutory provisions and FEC regulations that have been changed, amended, or voided by specific court decisions. .

941. GDA-15409 While a President's ability to make any changes at an independent agency like the FEC is limited,13 the President has the ability to make legislative recommendations to Congress. .

942. GDA-15411 l The President should prioritize nominations to the FEC once commissioners reach the end of their terms and should be assisted by legislative language either eliminating or limiting overstays to a reasonable period of time to permit the vetting, nomination, and confirmation of successors. .

943. GDA-15412 l The President should vigorously oppose all efforts, as proposed, for example, in Section 6002 of the "For the People Act of 2021,"14 to change the structure of the FEC to reduce the number of commissioners from six to five or another odd number. .

944. GDA-15421 CONCLUSION When taking any action related to the FEC, the President should keep in mind that, as former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith says, the "greater problem at the FEC has been overenforcement," not underenforcement as some critics falsely allege.15 As he correctly concludes, the FEC's enforcement efforts "place a substantial burden on small committees and campaigns, and are having a chilling effect on some political speech"¦squeezing the life out of low level, volunteer political activity."16 Commissioners have a duty to enforce FECA in a fair, nonpartisan, objective manner. .

945. GDA-15423 The President has the same duty to ensure that the Department of Justice enforces the law in a similar manner. .

946. GDA-15439 7. Former Commissioner Steven Walther (2006-2022) was listed nominally as an independent but he was recommended to President George W. .

947. GDA-15457 13. It should be noted, however, that the constitutional authority of a President to, among other things, remove appointees and direct the actions of independent agencies is a hotly contested and increasingly litigated issue. .

948. GDA-15488 If we would not submit to an emperor, we should not submit to an autocrat of trade, with power to prevent competition and to fix the price of any commodity.6 Similarly, identifying the institutional threats that market concentration can pose, the former Republican President and future Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft wrote at the time, The federal antitrust law is one of the most important statutes ever passed in this country. .

949. GDA-15517 President Harry Truman reportedly made the famous quip, "Give me a one- handed economist. .

950. GDA-15522 The FTC's commissioners are not removable at will by the President, which many quite reasonably believe violates the Vesting Clause of Article II of the Constitution; it is for this reason that conservatives have long believed in either ending law enforcement activities of independent agencies or ending their independent status. .

951. GDA-15611 The questionable predictive power of traditional economic theory was illustrated when, after a much-heralded investigation, antitrust regulators appointed by former President Barack Obama declined to sue Google in January 2013 for anticompetitive behavior. .

952. GDA-15638 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

953. GDA-15770 Feulner The idea of Mandate for Leadership was first conceived in the fall of 1979 at a Heritage Foundation board of trustees meeting when former Treasury Secretary Bill Simon and former General Services Administration Administrator Jack Eckerd discussed the predicament they had faced when they first joined a new, more conservative presidential Administration: They received no practical plans on how to move their part of the federal bureaucracy to reflect a more conservative policy direction other than vague exhortations to promote free markets; smaller, more efficient government; and a stronger national defense. .

954. GDA-15773 Frank Shakespeare, who had headed the United States Information Agency during the Cold War, noted that electoral politics is what gets a President and Vice President elected and sent to Washington, but then policy politics is what they had to focus on to do the right thing once they got the big job. .

955. GDA-15775 If a conservative candidate were to become the President-elect in just 16 months, what could be done by an outside group to prepare for these new opportunities? The staff at Heritage took this idea on as a challenge, and it would become the defining policy decision in the early history of this upstart think tank. .

956. GDA-15779 Thus, if conservatives finally gained control in Washington, they were prepared to answer the question, "What is the conservative agenda?" Candidate, then President-elect, then President Ronald Reagan's "feisty new kid on the conservative block --- The Heritage Foundation" --- had the answer, and it was Mandate for Leadership. .

957. GDA-15784 On January 21, 1981, at the first meeting of his Cabinet, President Reagan distributed copies of Mandate, and many of the study's authors were recruited into the Administration to implement its recommendations. .

958. GDA-15785 In the foreword of that first edition, I wrote, "What is offered by the authors is a series of proposals which, if implemented, will help revitalize our economy, strengthen our national security, and halt the centralization of power in the federal government." The conservative movement had found in Ronald Reagan a President who shared that vision and who had the will to go against the established political grain in Washington. .

959. GDA-15787 Mandate's proven ideas and President Reagan's skill at communicating their benefits led to his Administration implementing almost half of the recommendations by the end of his first year in office. .

960. GDA-15792 It earned significant attention from the Trump Administration, as Heritage had accumulated a backlog of conservative ideas that had been blocked by President Barack Obama and his team. .

961. GDA-15793 Soon after President Donald Trump was sworn in, his Administration began to implement major parts of the 2016 Mandate. .

962. GDA-15798 As I noted above, in his first year in office, President Reagan implemented nearly half of Mandate's recommendations --- an extraordinary feat. .

963. GDA-15799 In 2018, in an interview on Fox News, I mentioned that President Trump had implemented more recommendations in his first year than Ronald Reagan did in his. .

964. GDA-15801 Nonetheless, President Trump liked being compared to a former President he deeply admired, and he touted the comparison frequently. .

965. GDA-15802 This anecdote illustrates how Mandate provides a yardstick for conservative Presidents to measure their performance relative to one another. .

966. GDA-15809 Today, President Joe Biden has brought us back to the days of Jimmy Carter --- actually, even worse --- with full-bore economic, military, cultural, and foreign policy turmoil. .

967. GDA-15812 Something that is essential to ensuring that a new President in 2025 can successfully implement a conservative agenda is having the right personnel to run the executive branch departments and their agencies. .

968. GDA-15813 This is why it is so often said that "people are policy." The Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, deputy assistant secretaries, administrators, agency heads, and on and on that a new President chooses to place throughout the executive branch must be principled individuals already aligned with the President's conservative vision. .

969. GDA-15814 And they must be willing to execute it on the President's behalf. .

970. GDA-15816 Presidential appointees not only are critical to implementing the policy agenda, but also must serve to "watch the watchers" in the departments and agencies they oversee. .

971. GDA-15821 When these new presidential appointees come into office, it is often the career bureaucrats who end up orienting them to their new positions. .

972. GDA-15834 That's why today, Heritage President Kevin Roberts, Project 2025 Director Paul Dans, the whole Heritage team, more than 50 organizations, and more than 360 experts from throughout the conservative movement have come together to continue the Mandate for Leadership tradition of creating policy solutions to solve the biggest issues facing America --- solutions based on the core principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. .

973. GDA-15837 One final note: As most readers know, this section of a book is usually called the "Afterword," but we have decided to title it "Onward!" In all the decades that I served as The Heritage Foundation's founder and president --- and to this day as a member of its Board of Trustees --- I have ended my communications with the exhortation "Onward!" This has been my charge to encourage friends, colleagues, and allies that we must always be advancing. .

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Save Metrics with analysis run Project-2025_MFL_FULL-SpecialCharFix.txt 07/14/024 11:49:37 Appended Metrics File

Total Lines: 15842 Blank Lines: Non Blank Lines: 15842 Imperatives: 2799 Shalls: 31 Wills: 519 IsReq:

Message: These metrics are what allow you to compare different documents and different analysis runs. Consider moving the numbers into a spreadsheet for visualization. Counts of Shalls, Wills, IsReq, and Imperatives are hardcoded into the tool. You have the ability to enter a Norm value, which can be surfaced after multiple analysis sessions.

Item	Risk	Count	Children	% lines	% imperative	% shall	% will	% isreq	% Norm
China s18s
Civil Service s18s
Climate Change s18s
Communist s18s
Eliminate Repeal s18s
Marxist s18s
NATO s18s
NAZI Fascist s18s
President s18s		964		6.08	34.44
Privatize s18s
Promise s24s		4		0.02	0.14	12.9	0.77
Revolution s18s
Russia s18s
Section Titles s24s		5		0.03	0.17	16.12	0.96
Socialist s18s
Sustainability s18s
Ukraine s18s
Unions s18s
Woke Labeling s18s
z Mined Objects		973		6.14	34.76

Rules Total 20
Rules Triggered 4
Rules Not Triggered 16
Percent of Rules Triggered 20%

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Polysyllabic Count: 0
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Services and Triggered Rule Comments Hide

Government Changes:

. . . 1. China No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: China Color: PURPLE Access Object: China|Taiwan Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Civil Service No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Civil Service Color: GREEN Access Object: Civil Service Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Climate Change No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 4. Communist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Communist Color: NAVY Access Object: Communis\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 5. Eliminate Repeal No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 6. Marxist No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 7. NATO No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: NATO Color: BLUE Case Sensitive : CHECKED Access Object: NATO Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 8. NAZI Fascist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: NAZI Fascist Color: FUCHSIA Access Object: Fascis\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 9. President No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: President Color: PURPLE Access Object: President Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 10. Privatize No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Privatize Color: BLUE Access Object: Privatize\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 11. Revolution No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Revolution Color: ORANGE Access Object: Revolution\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 12. Russia No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 13. Socialist No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 14. Sustainability No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Sustainability Color: BROWN Access Object: Sustainab\w+|unsustainab\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 15. Ukraine No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Ukraine Color: GREEN Access Object: Ukrain\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 16. Unions No Comment Text in this rule.
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. . . 17. Woke Labeling No Comment Text in this rule.
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