Key Points
- Remove all Biden officials and immediately place conservative loyalists in key decision-making positions via a novel strategy of appointing them in “acting,” or temporary positions, with possibly decision-making authority, even as they await Senate approval
- Increase the number of loyalists in foreign policy positions
- In foreign policy, leverage career diplomats who align with conservative agenda
- Freeze and/or review all existing international treaties to assure they align with
presidential agenda and foreign policy priorities
- Focus foreign policy on Iran, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, and China; develop an
Article X review of China policy and reverse Biden’s Iran policy
- Cut funding to international organizations that fund abortion or social policies that are
viewed as counter to conservative values, including the WHO
Skinner’s proposal to immediately replace Biden foreign service officials in key decision-making positions with loyalist appointees is designed to assure the next administration makes major policy decisions as fast as possible, avoiding Congressional opposition. His proposal for a “novel approach” to seating nominees in “acting” positions of authority on Day One is a bold attempt to sidestep Senate oversight in the very first days of the new presidency, since it takes longer for Senate hearings to happen. The legality of such a move is not established, but is sure to be fought by progressives, especially for high-level positions that require prior Senate approval.
The priority foreign policy focus on Iran, China, North Korea, and Venezuela is a conservative staple, too. It reflects conservative views of the threat of Communism and Venezuela’s socialist regime. So is the call to stop funding international organizations that fund abortion or progressive social policies; it reflects Project 2025’s goal of promoting hardline Christian conservative views in foreign policy as in domestic policy.
Full Summary
Skinner says that as the main department tasked with carrying out US foreign policy, the State Department has always been plagued by career officers with a Left agenda who cripple its effectiveness, especially for conservative presidents. To correct this, Skinner calls for the president to directly place senior-level political appointees in the State Department that do not require Senate confirmation, and to increase the number of political appointees. The president- elect’s transition team or the new, planned, President’s Office of Presidential Personnel will select all non-confirmed senior appointees and be in place on Day One of the new administration, making sure no Biden administration appointees remain in office, even for a transition, if possible.
Here, Skinner calls for maintaining career civil servants “leveraged for their expertise and commitment to the president’s mission,” noting, “they need not be adversaries of a conservative president.” But they need to align with the president’s mission, including diplomats. He calls for:
- Political ambassadors with close relationships to the president for priority strategic posts in Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- A retroactive freeze, review, and recalibration of existing treaties and agreements to realign them with the president’s foreign policy agenda, and revoking of the C-175 (Circular 175 procedures) international treaty-making authority given to other agencies by earlier administrations
- Support for the new Office of China Coordination, or “China House”, staffed by appointees, to lead the diplomatic conservative “war” against the Chinese Communist Party
- Review, refocus the State Department on its handling of immigration and domestic security issues, increasing use of visa reciprocity (withholding, approving) as a lever of diplomacy
- Review all “removal-pending nationals” to expedite their eviction from the US
- Indefinitely curtail the State Dept.’s US Refugee Admission Program (USRAP)
- Reimplement the Remain in Mexico policy as a Day One priority
- Review the Diversity Visa program, the F (student) visa, and J (exchange visitor) visa programs to assure they align with White House immigration policy, national security, and resource limitations
- Significantly reorient the president’s posture toward “friends and enemies alike”
- Focus on China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and North Korea as foreign policy priorities
- Develop an Article X for China by presidential mandate – a call for a deep philosophical look at the challenge posed by China – and reverse Biden’s position on Iran
- While acknowledging differing opinions on the Ukraine-Russia war, the next government must chart a course that aligns with American interests, while “all sides agree that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is unjust and that the Ukrainian people have a right to defend their homeland”
- In the Middle East, defund the Palestinian Authority
- The US must work to block North Korea from becoming a de facto nuclear power
- The US must work for a “fentanyl-free frontier” on the southern border and act against drug cartels
- In Africa, shift from humanitarian aid to fostering free-market systems and reject promotion of divisive social policies such as abortion or pro-LGBT being imposed on them
- The US must focus on the Arctic, and NATO must develop and implement an Arctic strategy to ensure that Russian use of Arctic waters and resources does not exceed a reasonable footprint
- Regarding international organizations, including the UN, the US must be prepared to take appropriate steps in response, up to and including withdrawal, if they act against US interests
- Direct the State Department to do a cost-benefit analysis of US participation in all international organizations, following the view that international organizations “should not be used to promote radical social policies as if they were human rights priorities”
- The US cannot support funding for international programs that fund or support abortion
- Consider restrictions of federal funding for WHO and health-related organizations whose policies don’t align with the administration’s
- Make public broadcasting reflect the administration’s agenda
- In arena of cyber space, State Department should assist DOD to go “on offence” against adversaries