Dead Drop November 29

PROSPECT 2025: Much was said during the recent presidential election about the Heritage Foundation publication “Project 2025.” The 920 page document called Mandate, published in April 2023, had lots of controversial proposals about how to reorganize government and address some of the nation’s biggest challenges. During the campaign, former and future President Trump said he hadn’t read it and didn’t know anything about the document. But it turns out that several of his subsequent nominees do/did. One of them, Russell Vought who was picked to head the Office of Management and Budget was one of the authors of Project 2025. OMB controls the federal government purse strings. And CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe was also a contributor to the Heritage report. So, what does the report say about the national security issues that are nearest and dearest to the hearts of Cipher Brief readers? Well, the report emphasizes what the authors see as the urgent need to modernize the U.S. military, including the nuclear triad, to counter threats from China and Russia. It advocates investments in advanced military technology and maintaining a robust naval presence to meet fleet capacity goals while at the same time doing away with DEI policies in DOD. The report focuses on addressing theaters like the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s growing influence while maintaining readiness to manage limited contingencies elsewhere, such as countering Iran’s nuclear ambitions and supporting Israel’s defense. Regarding intelligence, the report talks about streamlining the intelligence community’s operations to better address emerging global threats, particularly from China and other state actors. How much of the Heritage report ends up in our future – remains to be seen.

CONFIRMATION BIAS: With a full slate of potential nominees to senior positions in the next administration on the table – focus is turning to the Senate’s advice and consent function. That is a particularly challenging mission given the narrow Republican margin in the upper house and the controversial backgrounds of some of the candidates. Adding to uncertainty is (at least for now) the transition team’s decision not to request the normal FBI background investigations on candidates and instead contract out that function. Former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi stressed that the FBI doesn’t make the call on Cabinet nominees but instead just investigates and tells the executive and legislative branches “Here’s what we found. Here’s what troubles us.” He notes that private firms doing the vetting can’t access much of the information the FBI can.

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