# Project 2025 [Project 2025](https://www.project2025.org), formally known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, is a presidential transition initiative organized by the [[Heritage Foundation]]. Established in 2022, the project brought together more than 100 conservative organizations with the stated goal of preparing a future conservative administration to implement policy changes immediately upon taking office. The Heritage Foundation allocated approximately $22 million to the effort. Key figures associated with the project include [[Kevin Roberts]] (Heritage Foundation president), [[Paul Dans]] (project director until July 2024), Spencer Chretien (associate director), and [[Russell Vought]] (Center for Renewing America founder and contributor). The project published its central policy document, _[Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise](https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf)_, in April 2023. Project 2025 represents a departure from conventional think-tank policy proposals in its operational scope. Rather than limiting itself to policy recommendations, the initiative functions as an infrastructure for government transition, preparing in advance the legal instruments, personnel rosters, and training programs intended to enable rapid action by a new administration. The project's stated objective is to "deconstruct the administrative state" by replacing career civil servants with vetted political appointees aligned with a conservative agenda. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has described the organization's role as "[institutionalizing Trumpism](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html)". The project is structured around four interconnected components. - The first is the policy document _Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise_, a 920-page manual edited by Paul Dans and Steven Groves, with contributions from more than 350 conservatives across 30 chapters. The document proposes measures including elimination of the Department of Education, restrictions on reproductive rights, and expanded executive control over the Department of Justice and FBI. - The second component is a personnel database, described internally as a "Conservative LinkedIn," designed to identify, vet, and recruit candidates to fill federal positions. A central mechanism proposed for enabling large-scale personnel changes is the reinstatement of Schedule F, an executive classification that would reclassify tens of thousands of career civil servants as political appointees subject to dismissal. - The third component is the Presidential Administration Academy, an online training system to prepare political appointees in federal governance procedures before they assume office. - The fourth component is a 180-day transition playbook containing drafted executive orders, regulations, and implementation plans intended for immediate action upon inauguration. --- ## Entries ### Romney Readiness Project (R2P) Plan The [Romney Readiness Project (R2P)](https://www.p2012.org/chrntran/r2pinc.html) was Mitt Romney’s pre-election presidential transition operation for 2012. It was designed to ensure that a new administration could take office and act immediately. Its distinctive feature was integrating policy and personnel planning as a single system. Teams not only drafted “day-one” and “first-200-days” implementation plans for campaign commitments but also structured agency review teams, identified staffing needs, and established appointment pipelines to execute those plans. R2P is also significant because it served as a reference point in modernizing US transition practices and was linked to subsequent institutional reforms. The 2015 law, the [Edward "Ted" Kaufman and Michael Leavitt Presidential Transitions Improvements Act of 2015](https://ourpublicservice.org/podcast/how-do-you-lead-a-presidential-transition-with-former-governor-mike-leavitt/), is named after Leavitt in recognition of his role as R2P chair.