Project 2025 Status
The move to modify EO 12333 would expand the next administration’s ability to carry out domestic intelligence gathering and surveillance while following possibly looser legal standards relating to American’s privacy and civil liberties, especially given Project 2025’s stated plans to crack down on illegal immigration and groups perceived as opposing the president’s or the conservative movement’s agenda.
Overall, Carmack calls for beefing up the US intelligence force and capacity, while streamlining the chain of authority to reduce agency turf wars with the CIA that result in muddled intelligence assessments. They seek more money and training to support (and reward) risk-taking agents and push for adoption of technology and new technology, including Big Data analysis, to improve the IC’s work and make it state-of-the-art. They want the US to be less beholden to current rules that stipulate intelligence-sharing with the EU.
The Intelligence Community (IC) is composed of 18 independent and Cabinet subagencies that monitor and assess intelligence and engage in counterterrorism — i.e., spydom. Here, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was set up post 9/11 by the Bush administration in 2004 as a small coordinating agency of the IC with a Cabinet-level intelligence officer. However, Carmack argues, there are historic interagency rivalries and chain of command conflicts, including with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that plague the IC. The author calls for the president to strengthen the role and authority of ODNI to make decisions. They call on future IC leadership to address the “woke” politics of “identity politics” and “social justice.”
One conservative priority is domestic terrorism. The authors call for the next president to:
Steps:
Modify Executive Order 12333, the president’s direction for implementing the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 1004 (IRTPA). This legislation defines how sharing of terrorism information must adhere to legal standards relating to privacy and civil liberties
Increase the power of the IC via Executive Order or suggested changes in the Counterintelligence Enhancement Act (CEA) of 2002
At the CIA, the president-elect should choose a deputy director who, without requiring Senate confirmation, can immediately begin to implement the president’s agenda. He should prevent “burrowing in” of outgoing Biden CIA officials and hire more loyalists
The new CIA Director should remove resources from any agency activities that promote “divisive cultural agendas” and “unnecessary and distracting social engineering” – references to gender and diversity reforms
Refocus the CIA to an OSS-like culture that rewards applicants who take high-risk assignments
Place experts in covert action in key NSC, CIA, ODNI, and DOD positions to consider expansion of covert action, for example, outside circumstances of armed conflict
Remove IC employees who abuse their positions of trust – failing to align with the president and agency’s intelligence mission
Investigate past politicization and abuses of intelligence information by IC employees and crack down on intelligence leaks to press or public
Support the IC’s ability to seek records of unauthorized disclosures of classified information (whistleblowers) to the media and hire more staff to help on this
Review the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to assure it serves president’s agenda
Review China intelligence policy as a priority and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)
Engage corporate America, technology companies, research institutions, and academia to be willing, educated partners in the administration’s needs related to intelligence and “not cave to the left-wing activists and investors who ignore the China threat”
Amplify the National Counterintelligence and Security Center’s authorities and roles
Provide the FBI with significant additional resources and legal authorities as the lead operational counterintelligence agency
Establish a real-time auditing system for sensitive intelligence across the 18 elements of the IC
Transition IC to using more technology, including tools and services for managing Big Data, while keeping human expertise oversight
Update, modernize, and improve resources and training for agents to operate clandestinely
The incoming president should request an immediate study of the implementation of Executive Order 14086 and suspend any (EU) provisions that unduly burden intelligence collection