Project 2025: Chapter Six - The Department of State: A Summary
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
by Kiron K. Skinner
Background on Author
Kiron K. Skinner - Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State (Trump admin.). She also worked as foreign policy surrogate for the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 2004.
According to reporting by the Washington Post, in May 2019, Skinner described a great power competition with China as “a fight with a really different civilization and a different ideology, and the United States hasn’t had that before.” China “poses a unique challenge … because the regime in Beijing isn’t a child of Western philosophy and history.” The Cold War constituted “a fight within the Western family,” while the coming conflict with China is “the first time that we will have a great power competitor that is not Caucasian.”
Skinner is African American, not Caucasian. Her comments about China were widely criticized.
Chapter Six - DEPARTMENT OF STATE
*Any note that I’ve written about the text will appear in italics.
Like previous chapters one of the main themes in this chapter is increasing the power of the president. Although the author never uses the term ‘deep state’ she implies that the Department of State is run by bureaucrats who purposefully work against the conservative agenda.
The author also views China as the major threat to the United States.
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.
Exert Leverage During the Confirmation Process
Place political appointees in positions that do not require Senate confirmation.
Positons include
Senior advisors
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretaries
Deputy Assistant Secretaries
Increase the number of political appointees
Place appointees on first day of administration
Fire everyone from the previous administration
Support and Train Political Appointees
Maximize the Value of Career Officials.
Reboot Ambassadors Worldwide
All ambassadors are required to submit letters of resignation at the start of a new Administration.
This should happen on day one of the new administration
Recall anyone who would conflict with the new administration immediately.
Ambassadors for Australia, Japan, U.K., United Nations, and NATO should be filled by appointees with close personal relationships with the president
RIGHTING THE SHIP
Review Retroactively. Before inauguration, the President-elect’s department transition team should assess every aspect of State Department negotiations and funding commitments.
Upon inauguration, the Secretary of State should order:
An immediate freeze on all efforts to implement unratified treaties and international agreements.
Review the allocation of resources
Implement Repair
Under the Biden Administration the State Department gave too much diplomatic capacity to DHS.
The next Administration should also direct the secretary to order an immediate stand-down on enforcement of any treaties that have not been ratified by the Senate.
Coordinate with Other Agencies
Coordinate with Congress
Focus on political appointees
Put the President’s agenda first
Respond Vigorously to the Chinese Threat.
The State Department recently opened the Office of China Coordination, or “China House.” This office is intended to bring together experts inside and outside the State Department to coordinate U.S. government relations with China “and advance our vision for an open, inclusive international system.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been “at war” with
the U.S. for decades.
Review immigration and domestic security requirements
To some degree, the State Department and many of its personnel appear to view the U.S. immigration system less as a tool for strengthening the United States and more as a global welfare program.
This must change
Proposed changes
Mandatory visa reciprocity - if the U.S. issues a visa to foreign nationals those countries must issue visa to U.S. citizens.
Section 243(d) visa sanctions.
Motivate countries to accept return of any nationals removed from the U.S.
If the countries refuse to take them the U.S. should stop issuing all visas to that country.
Rightsizing refugee admissions.
One casualty of the Biden Administration’s behavior will be the current form of the U.S. Refugee Admission Program (USRAP)
An indefinite curtailment of the number of USRAP refugee admissions.
Strengthening bilateral and multilateral immigration-focused agreements.
Restoration of both domestic security and the integrity of the U.S. immigration system should start with rapid reactivation of several key initiatives in that were in effect at the conclusion of the Trump Administration.
Reimplementation of the Remain in Mexico policy
Evaluation of national security–vulnerable visa programs.
Diversity Visa program
F (student) visa program
J (exchange visitor) visa program
PIVOTING ABROAD
The five countries on which the next Administration should focus its attention and energy are China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and North Korea.
The People’s Republic of China
China is more of a threat than a competitor.
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. The U.S. government needs an Article X for China, and it should be a presidential mandate.
For instance, many were quick to dismiss even the possibility that COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese research laboratory. The reality, however, is that the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) actions often do sound like conspiracy theories—because they are conspiracies. 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.
In some cases, these voices, like the global corporate giants BlackRock and Disney, directly benefit from doing business with Beijing.
On the other hand, others acknowledge the dangers posed by the PRC, but believe in a moderating approach to accommodate its rise, a policy of “compete where we must, but cooperate where we can,” including on issues like climate change. This strategy has demonstrably failed.
The Islamic Republic of Iran
The author claims both the Obama and Biden administrations propped up the Islamist theocracy and threatened nuclear war. The author is also extremely critical of the Iran nuclear deal - 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The next Administration should neither preserve nor repeat the mistakes of the Obama and Biden Administrations. The correct future policy for Iran is one that acknowledges that it is in U.S. national security interests, the Iranian people’s human rights interests, and a broader global interest in peace and stability for the Iranian people to have the democratic government they demand.
This decision to be free of the country’s abusive leaders must of course be made by the Iranian people, but the United States can utilize its own and others’ economic and diplomatic tools to ease the path toward a free Iran and a renewed relationship with the Iranian people.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
The author refers to Venezuela as a communist regime.
The next Administration must work to unite the hemisphere against this significant but underestimated threat in the Southern Hemisphere.
Russia
There are three conservatives schools of thought regarding Russia.
The conflict in Ukraine is bad for the U.S. The end goal must be to defeat Putin and restore Ukraine.
The conflict should not be a concern for the U.S. since Ukraine is a corrupt nation and not part of NATO. Europeans should deal with the problem. The conflict should be resolved between Ukraine and Russia.
The U.S. should only help Ukraine if it is beneficial to the U.S. while recognizing that Communist China is the greatest threat. The U.S. should only send military aid. Europe should help with everything else. Any aid we send should be fully paid for and no U.S. service personnel should be put at risk.
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. interests in the 21st century.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
South Korea and Japan are both important allies. The U.S should do everything it can to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear threat.
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