What is The Heritage Foundation's involvement in Project 2025 and who leads it?
Executive summary
The Heritage Foundation is the architect and publisher of Project 2025, a multi‑pillar conservative “presidential transition” initiative centered on a nearly 900–920 page policy manual called Mandate for Leadership and accompanying tools intended to staff, train and guide a future Republican administration [1] [2] [3]. Leadership of the project has shifted: Paul Dans was the project’s director and lead architect early on but stepped down in August 2024 amid political blowback, and Heritage president Kevin Roberts subsequently assumed leadership of Project 2025 while senior Heritage figures such as Roger Severino have held visible roles on its policy team [4] [5] [6] [7].
1. What Project 2025 is and why Heritage framed it as necessary
Project 2025 is presented by Heritage as a four‑pillar transition playbook that includes the Mandate for Leadership policy book, a personnel database, a Presidential Administration Academy to train appointees, and a Day‑One Playbook of executive actions—tools Heritage says are meant to transform policy ideas into implementable steps for each federal agency [2] [8]. Heritage describes the Mandate as the work of hundreds of conservatives and a “policy bible” that maps agency‑by‑agency recommendations and the regulations or executive orders an incoming administration should sign, framing the project as preparedness for conservative governance [2] [4].
2. Heritage’s concrete involvement: authoring, publishing, organizing and staffing
The Heritage Foundation published and distributed Mandate for Leadership and organized the broader Project 2025 effort that marshaled dozens of allied groups and hundreds of contributors to compile agency‑level plans, vetted personnel lists, and draft executive actions intended for rapid implementation [1] [2] [8] [4]. Heritage publicly bills the Playbook and personnel database as central pillars, and the organization both produced the 900‑plus page blueprint and hosted its rollout at Heritage events, making the think tank the operational hub for the initiative [1] [2] [4].
3. Who led and who leads: Paul Dans, Kevin Roberts, and other Heritage figures
Paul Dans was identified as the director and principal architect during Project 2025’s launch and as an editor of the Mandate, but he announced his departure from the director role in late July 2024 amid criticism from political actors including then‑President Trump’s campaign [4] [5]. After Dans stepped down, Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation and a former Trump transition staffer, assumed leadership responsibility for the project; Roberts has described Heritage’s role as “institutionalizing Trumpism,” according to reporting that cited his public remarks [6] [7]. Roger Severino is cited in Heritage materials and reporting as a senior policy leader connected to the project, noted as vice president for domestic policy at Heritage and a contributor to Project 2025 work [6].
4. The personnel pipeline and overlap with Trump administration hires
Reporting and watchdog analyses show Project 2025 incorporated a personnel database and made public pitches to prepare and vet prospective appointees, and outside reviews found substantial overlap between contributors to Project 2025 and individuals who later served in the Trump administration—CNN identified roughly 140 people with prior ties to Trump among Project 2025 contributors, a figure cited in legal‑advocacy and media reporting [9] [10]. Heritage defends the initiative as ensuring conservatives are ready to govern; critics warn the database and staffing focus reflect a strategy of remaking the federal workforce and consolidating executive power [2] [11].
5. Controversies, reactions and limits of available reporting
Project 2025 drew criticism from Democrats, civil‑liberties groups and some Republican operatives; the director’s exit followed public pushback from Trump’s campaign and intensified scrutiny of the project’s proposals to reorganize or eliminate agencies outlined in the Mandate [5] [9]. Sources document Heritage’s authorship and leadership role and name specific leaders, but reporting differs on tone: Heritage frames readiness and governance training as legitimate transition work, while opponents characterize Project 2025 as a plan to consolidate conservative control and dismantle federal programs [2] [9] [12]. This analysis is limited to the cited public reporting; it does not include private internal deliberations at Heritage or behind‑the‑scenes communications beyond what those sources report [1] [4].