What is Project 2025? (Part 9)

A Presidential Transition Project from The Heritage Foundation

What is Project 2025?

This is Part 9 in The Savvy Citizen’s new series: What is Project 2025?

If you’re new to the series, you may want to read the previous parts first, since this is a building series: Parts 1 - 8 are available here.

Also, I explain My Approach to the series in Part 1, so I won’t repeat it here.

We are now exploring the Project’s Section 1: Taking the Reins of Government. Note that the Project is divided into five (5) sections, which I explain in Part 3 of this series.

Project 2025

Section 1: Taking the Reins of Government

• (1) White House Office Rick Dearborn

• (2) Executive Office of the President of the United States Russ Vought

• (3) Central Personnel Agencies: Managing the Bureaucracy Donald Devine, Dennis Dean Kirk, Paul Dans

You can read the Introduction to Section 1 in Part 8. We’ll now continue with Section 1.1: White House Office.

Some preliminaries …

» SIDEBAR: Section 1.1 explains the various roles and responsibilities in the White House Office, which remain relatively constant from administration to administration. The Project text doesn’t include a summary of headers in each sub-section, so I’ve put a quick outline of what this sub-section covers here.

• Chief of Staff

• Deputy Chiefs of Staff

• Principal Deputy Chiefs of Staff

  • Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations

  • Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

• Senior Advisors

• Office of White House Counsel

• Staff Secretary

• Office of Communications

• Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA)

• Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO)

• Office of Political Affairs (OPA)

• Office of Cabinet Affairs (OCA)

• Office of Public Liaison (OPL)

• Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA)

• White House Policy Councils

  • Functions of the Councils

    • Policy Coordination

    • Policy Advice

    • Policy Implementation

  • Specific Policy Councils

    • Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC)

    • Deputies Committee (DC)

    • Principals Committee (PC)

  • National Security Council

  • National Economic Council

  • Domestic Policy Council

• Office of the Vice President

• Office of the First Lady/First Gentleman

» SIDEBAR: None of the White House Office positions require Senate confirmation. Each employee is appointed by the President and serves at the pleasure of the President, meaning that he/she can terminate their employment at any time.

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Now for the actual text of this sub-section. I’ve included the descriptions for the following positions in this post, and will include the remaining positions in a following post or two to keep the length reasonable!

• Chief of Staff

• Deputy Chiefs of Staff

• Principal Deputy Chiefs of Staff

  • Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations

  • Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

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Section 1.1: White House Office

From popular culture to academia, the American presidency has long been a prominent fixture of the national imagination—naturally so since it is the beating heart of our nation’s power and prestige. It has played, for instance, a feature role in innumerable movies and television shows and has been prodded, analyzed, and critiqued by countless books, essays, and studies. 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.

With respect to the presidency, it is best to begin with our Republic’s foundational document. 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.

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. Their shared patriotic endeavor has proven to be a noble one, not least because the jobs in what is now known as the White House Office (WHO) are among the most demanding in all of government.

The President must rely on the men and women appointed to the WHO. There simply are not enough hours in the day to manage the affairs of state single-handedly, so delegation is not just advisable: It is essential. The decisions that assistants and senior advisers make will directly impact the Administration, its legacy, and—most important—the fate of the country. Their agenda must therefore be the President’s agenda. 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. The tone and tempo of an administration are often determined on January 20.

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. However, the chief is truly first among equals. Of all presidential staff members, the chief is the most critical to implementation of the President’s vision for the country. 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. It should be simple and contain clear lines of authority and responsibility to avoid conflicts. It should also identify specific points of contact for each element of the government outside of the White House. These contacts should include the White House Liaisons who are selected by the Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO).

Receiving guidance from the President, the chief endeavors to implement the President’s agenda by setting priorities for the WHO. 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:

• The National Economic Council (NEC);

• The Domestic Policy Council (DPC); and

• The National Security Council (NSC).

The President is briefed on all of his policy priorities by his Cabinet and senior staff as directed by the chief. The chief—along with senior WHO staff—maps out the issues and themes that will be covered daily and weekly. The chief then works with the policy councils, the Cabinet, and the Office of Communications and Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) to sequence and execute the rollout of policies and announcements. White House Counsel and senior advisers and senior counselors are also intimately involved.

All senior staff report to the Chief of Staff, either directly or through his/her two or three deputies, unless the President determines that a particular Assistant to the President reports directly to him. Most chiefs have interacted directly with Cabinet officers and a select number of direct reports. In most cases, the direct reports to the chief are his/her two or three deputies, the Communications Director, PPO Director, White House Counsel, and senior advisers. Occasionally, the Office of Public Liaison (OPL), the Cabinet Secretary, and Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) also report directly to the chief. Usually, however, they report instead to a Deputy Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff’s main challenge is time management. His/her use of his deputies, meetings with senior staff, and direction provided to the WHO must all balance with the daily needs of the President. A successful chief steers the West Wing using his management of and influence with the various individuals and entities around him. It goes without saying that selecting the right person to be chief is vital.

DEPUTY CHIEFS OF STAFF

In recent years, Presidents typically have appointed two Deputy Chiefs of Staffs: a Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations and a Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. There also have been other types of deputy chiefs whose roles have included, for example, overseeing strategy, planning, and implementation. Chiefs of Staff have then occasionally appointed a principal Deputy Chief to be in charge of guiding decision-making, organizational structure, and information flow.

PRINCIPAL DEPUTY CHIEFS OF STAFF

Not all Chiefs of Staff have tapped a principal deputy. A major reason is that doing so adds another layer of command complexity. When principal deputies have been installed, their roles have varied based on the needs of particular chiefs.

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. Principal deputies also have assumed control of the scheduling functions, normally under the operations deputy, and have worked directly with the policy councils at the direction of the Chief of Staff. The OPL and Office of Political Affairs (OPA) also have reported to a principal deputy.

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations

The Deputy Chief of Staff for Management and Operations oversees the President’s schedule and all logistical aspects of his/her movement within and outside of the White House (for example, both air travel on Air Force One and Marine One and ground transportation). This deputy also interfaces directly with the Secret Service as well as the military offices tasked with keeping the President and his family safe.

In the past, this deputy has also worked with the NSC, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Intelligence Community and on advancing all foreign trips. If their roles are separated from that of the policy deputy, this deputy should have a strong grasp of international affairs and robust foreign policy credentials.

This deputy further manages all facets of the working White House:

• technology,

• grounds management,

• support staff,

• personnel administration, and

• communications.

This individual therefore needs to be meticulous and ideally should possess a great deal of command-and-control experience.

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

In some Administrations, the functions of the IGA, OPA, and OPL and other advisers within the WHO have fallen under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. For conservatives, this arrangement could help to connect the WHO’s outreach to political and external groups and be a strong conduit for state and local elected officials, state party organizations, and both grasstop and grassroots groups.

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. This deputy chief should therefore have impressive policy credentials in the realms of economic, domestic, and social affairs.

To be continued …

Back next time with more of Section 1.1.

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xo,

Kelley for The Savvy Citizen Team

December 19, 2024

P.S. Remember, you can always read the entire Project 2025 at Project2025.org.

1. U.S. Constitution, art. II, § 1, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/ (accessed February 14, 2023).

2. U.S. Constitution, art. II, § 2.

3. U.S. Constitution, art. II, § 3.

4. U.S. Constitution, art. II, § 2.

5. See Chapter 2, “Executive Office of the President,” infra.