Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

Section 1 · Taking the Reins of Government

1 White House Office

23–42 · Rick Dearborn

  • 10 done
  • 9 partially done
  • 13 not started

Major recommendations (1)

What has happened

The Mandate said

“Identifying programmatic political workforce needs early and developing plans (for example, Schedule F).”

What happened

Done

OPM finalized the rule and issued implementing guidance telling agencies how to petition for placements; EO 14410 (2026-06-03) then executed the first placements.

The Mandate said

“Identifying programmatic political workforce needs early and developing plans (for example, Schedule F).”

What happened

Partially done

OPM proposed the Schedule Policy/Career rule, estimating about 50,000 positions would be covered.

The Mandate said

“Identifying programmatic political workforce needs early and developing plans (for example, Schedule F).”

What happened

Attempted

Executive Order 14171 directed OPM and agency heads to identify policy-influencing positions for the revived Schedule F (Schedule Policy/Career) — the "plan" the Chapter asks for.

The Mandate said

“Although its focus should be identifying and recruiting leaders to fill the approximately 1,000 appointments that require Senate confirmation, PPO must also fill approximately 3,000 political jobs that require dedicated conservatives to support the Administration's political leadership.”

What happened

Partially done

Filling has gone a long way and is not finished. By 2026-08-07 the Senate had confirmed 603 civilian nominations of this administration, against the roughly 1,000 Senate-confirmed appointments the Quote names — a rate sustained by en-bloc confirmations such as the 73 nominations carried on Record Vote 225 that day. Nominations have been transmitted continuously since January 2025; the whitehouse.gov notices run from 2025 through the window's close. Partial rather than done because a substantial share of Senate-confirmed posts remains unfilled, and because the Quote's second figure — about 3,000 political jobs not requiring confirmation — has no published count anywhere on the allowlist; the nearest measurable action there is the creation of Schedule G for noncareer policy positions in July 2025.

The Mandate said

“To offer guidance, the White House Counsel must get up to speed as quickly as possible on all significant ongoing legal challenges across the executive branch that might affect the new Administration's policy agenda and must be prepared at the outset of the Administration to present recommendations to the President, including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation.”

What happened

Partially done

Executive Order 14215 section 7 makes legal interpretations issued by the President or the Attorney General controlling on every executive-branch employee, which is the mechanism the Quote's recommendations would run through: once an interpretation changes, the government's position in litigation changes with it. It has been used that way — OPM removed the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures from federal personnel regulations in July 2026 expressly to conform to a new Office of Legal Counsel opinion, citing section 7. Partial rather than done because the specific act the Quote names — the White House Counsel presenting the President with recommendations to reconsider or reverse positions in significant litigation — is privileged advice and appears on no public record, and no allowlisted source inventories which positions were reversed.

Still to come

Executive action 13

  1. 28 Reexamine the memo limiting White House–DOJ contacts Notable Not started
  2. 40 Establish an economic opportunity working group chaired by the DPC Director Notable Not started
  3. 24 Have the Chief of Staff establish a White House Office organizational chart Minor Not started
  4. 24 Designate White House points of contact, including PPO-selected White House Liaisons Minor Not started
  5. 26 Place IGA, OPA, and OPL under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Minor Not started
  6. 32 Have PPO conduct political background checks on potential appointees Minor Not started
  7. 33 Designate an OPA liaison staffer for the Cabinet and agencies Minor Not started
  8. 33 Have the Office of Cabinet Affairs hold regular Deputy Secretaries meetings Minor Not started
  9. 34 Have the Office of Public Liaison run listening sessions with key interest groups Minor Not started
  10. 35 Draw the OPL Director from the campaign or Capitol Hill, not from K Street Minor Not started
  11. 38 Assign overlapping policy areas to only one White House policy council Minor Not started
  12. 38 Vet NSC staff and the National Security Adviser for security experience Minor Not started
  13. 40 Have the DPC Director chair a standing meeting with EOP office principals Minor Not started

All recommendations in this chapter

Every recommendation this chapter is the home of, in printed-page order.

  1. 24 Have the Chief of Staff establish a White House Office organizational chart Not started
  2. 24 Designate White House points of contact, including PPO-selected White House Liaisons Not started
  3. 25 Appoint an operations Deputy Chief of Staff with foreign policy credentials Partially done
  4. 26 Appoint a Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy with strong policy credentials Done
  5. 26 Place IGA, OPA, and OPL under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Not started
  6. 28 Reexamine the memo limiting White House–DOJ contacts Not started
  7. 28 Prepare recommendations to reverse the prior Administration's litigation positions Partially done
  8. 28 Appoint a White House Counsel who is a generalist loyal to the President Done
  9. 29 Reexamine permanent press space on the White House campus Partially done
  10. 29 Staff Communications with a director, two deputies, and a Press Secretary Partially done
  11. 30 Reexamine ties to the White House Correspondents Association Done
  12. 31 Fill roughly 1,000 Senate-confirmed and 3,000 other political jobs with conservatives Needs Congress Partially done
  13. 32 Develop political workforce plans such as Schedule F Done
  14. 32 Have PPO conduct political background checks on potential appointees Not started
  15. 32 Use OPM to effectuate the President's direct Title 5 authorities Done
  16. 33 Install cadres of political staff just below senior levels in departments and agencies Partially done
  17. 33 Appoint one OPA political affairs director plus regional deputy directors Partially done
  18. 33 Designate an OPA liaison staffer for the Cabinet and agencies Not started
  19. 33 Have the Office of Cabinet Affairs hold regular Deputy Secretaries meetings Not started
  20. 34 Appoint a single Cabinet Secretary reporting to the Chief of Staff's office Done
  21. 34 Appoint a single OPL Director reporting to the Chief of Staff's office Done
  22. 34 Have the Office of Public Liaison run listening sessions with key interest groups Not started
  23. 35 Draw the OPL Director from the campaign or Capitol Hill, not from K Street Not started
  24. 35 Appoint an IGA Director with one or two Deputy Directors Done
  25. 38 Assign overlapping policy areas to only one White House policy council Not started
  26. 38 Have policy councils lead cross-cutting priorities: China, immigration, wokeism Partially done
  27. 38 Vet NSC staff and the National Security Adviser for security experience Not started
  28. 38 Limit the number of detailees staffing the National Security Council Done
  29. 39 Appoint qualified heads of the NEC and Council of Economic Advisers Done
  30. 40 Have the DPC Director chair a standing meeting with EOP office principals Not started
  31. 40 Establish an economic opportunity working group chaired by the DPC Director Not started
  32. 40 Have the DPC and NSC jointly develop a border security policy agenda Partially done