Returning to Project 2025, with content alert for a severe case of side-eye.
Picking up with Chapter 4 on the Department of Defense, page 105, DOD Intelligence. The intelligence community has 17 elements, of which “eight are within DOD, two are independent, and seven belong to various other departments and agencies. Overall, the DOD provides 86 percent of the personnel who conduct intelligence activities, both military and civilian.”
One hopes that the Needed Reforms (pp 105-107) include a massive restructuring of this sprawling “community.” Do they? Nope. They’re about sharing information and improving analysis techniques.
Army, and Needed Reforms (pp 108-110) summarized: make it bigger! At least there is one item I agree with: “Address the underlying causal issues driving increasing Army suicide rates, which have surpassed pre-World War II rates and are now eclipsing the rate among civilians.”
Navy, and Needed Reforms (pp 110-112) summarized: make it bigger! Build more ships! Improve training!
Air Force, and Needed Reforms (pp 112-115) summarized: make it bigger! Direct funding! Acquire next-gen capabilities! More missiles!
Marine Corps, and Needed Reforms (pp 115-117) summarized: fully implement Force Design 2030, restructure personnel, and build new amphibious ships.
Space Force, and Needed Reforms (pp 117-119) summarized: make it bigger! Make it offensive! Work up to creating a Space Force Academy!
Cyber Command, and Needed Reforms (pp. 119-120) summarized: disentangle it from overlap with other agencies / mission creep; make it offensive; integrate and communicate; define roles and responsibilities.
Special Operations Forces, and Needed Reforms (pp 121-123); “Irregular warfare should be used proactively … .” Summarized: expand the scope, reduce the barriers, establish a “Center of Excellence to help DOD train, equip, and organize to conduct irregular warfare as a core competency across the spectrum of competition, crisis, and conflict.”
You know what Irregular Warfare actually means? Black ops.
You know what Black Ops actually means?
Targeted extralegal slaughter with plausible deniability.
Nuclear Deterrence, and Needed Reforms (pp 123-125) summarized: update all our old nuclear materiel and build new with the expectation of using it against China, Russia, North Korea, and/or Iran.
Missile Defense, and Needed Reforms (pp 125-) summarized: make it bigger! More missiles, more bases, more research, and get more offensive.
Have you noticed most of these “needed reforms” are actually shopping lists? How is this supposed to streamline our defense, make it more efficient/effective, and reduce the ginormous expense? Well, obviously, it’s not. All that BS about reducing the size of government is really just BS.
A bigger military is an easy sell when your entire platform is Us vs Them.
This chapter was infuriating.
The next chapter is titled Department of Homeland Security (pp 133-169 including endnotes). It should have been short, because P25 wants to dismantle DHS, but it’s all those pages long because they go into exhaustive detail about DHS functions vis-à-vis other agencies. Later for that.