6. Department of State

Project 2025 link: DEPARTMENT OF STATE

WHO WROTE THIS CHAPTER: Kiron K. Skinner is a former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State in the Trump administration. She has a PhD from Harvard and teaches at Pepperdine. She was a disciple of Condoleezza Rice and served in Pompeo’s State Department 2018-19. She drew international attention in April 2019 for stating at a foreign policy forum that the U.S. competition with China would be especially bitter, because unlike the Cold War with the Soviet Union which is “a fight within the Western family”, “it’s the first time that we will have a great-power competitor that is not Caucasian“. She was fired, under rumors of rivalry, mismanagement and/or trying to diversify the department’s work force.

Before she became director, she was the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Carnegie Mellon University, where, over the condemnation of faculty, staff and students, she appointed Richard Grenell to a position. She is now the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, one of many conservative public policy think tanks (free enterprise, limited government, etc..), this one associated with Stanford University…at least for now, and the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy.

Skinner’s a huge Reagan fan – she co-authored two books: In His Own Hand (2001) and Reagan, a Life in Letters (2003), which were New York Times bestsellers. In 2005, Skinner was appointed by President George W. Bush to a term on the National Security Education Board. Since Reagan was himself a huge fan of the Heritage Foundation, her writing this chapter comes as no surprise.

Stop the Coup’s top takeaways

  • Remove all Biden officials and immediately place conservative loyalists in key decisionmaking positions via a novel strategy of appointing them in “acting,” or temporary positions, with possibly decision-making authority, even as they await Senate approval o Increase the number of loyalists in foreign policy positions o In foreign policy, leverage career diplomats who align with conservative agenda
  • Freeze and/or review all existing international treaties to assure they align with presidential agenda and foreign policy priorities
  • Focus foreign policy on Iran, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, and China; develop an Article X review of China policy and reverse Biden’s Iran policy
  • Cut funding to international organizations that fund abortion or social policies that are viewed as counter to conservative values, including the WHO

Our own page-by-page deep dive

  • Biggest take-away is that she seems to want the State Department personnel to be completely subservient to the President and follow his policy initiatives blindly.  In her opinion the State Department personnel do not have any valuable knowledge, concern or ideas that might inform the President. 
    • (Pg. 167) Schedule F every leader!: “No one in a leadership position on the morning of January 20 should hold that position at the end of the day.”
    • (Pg. 171):  …”large swaths of the State Department’s workforce are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative President’s policy agenda and vision.”
    • (Pg. 173):  She wants “civil service personnel who share the President’s vision and policy agenda…” rather than impartial, knowledgeable analysts with expertise in their area of study. 
    • (Pg. 173):  She supports thwarting separation of powers by recommending placing “State Department appointees directly into those roles, pending confirmation…”
    • (Pg. 174) Try to convince really useful people to stay: “they need not be adversaries of a conservative President, Secretary of State, or the team of political appointees.”
    • (Pg. 176):  She  recommends withholding information from Congress when she says “…authorizing the State Department to engage with Members of Congress and relevant committees on certain issues…but to remain ‘radio silent’ on volatile or designated issues on which the white House wants to be the primary or only voice.”
    • (Pg. 173):  “The main suggestion here is that as many political appointees as possible should be in place at the start of a new Administration.”
  • Throughout the 28 page document she encourages reassessment of all treaties, which she calls “righting the ship.”
    • (Pg. 176):  …”disallow resources and tools to be used in any way that detracts from the presidentially directed mission.”
    • (Pg. 174):   “immediate freeze on all unratified treaties and international agreements.”
  • She urges that the State Department play ‘hard ball’ with visas and immigration. She says that the State Department’s attitude toward immigration is “a global welfare program.” 
    • (Pg. 177) Use immigration as leverage: Sad that “many of its personnel appear to view the U.S. immigration system less as a tool for strengthening the United States and more as a global welfare program.”
    • (Pg. 177) Visas as tools and threat: Demand visa reciprocity and sanction those countries who do not accept returned nations with “suspension of issuance of all immigrant visas, all nonimmigrant visas, or all visas.”
    • (Pg. 178):  “reimplementation of Remain in Mexico…”;  align immigration “…with its national security obligations and resources.”
  • She writes about international enemies of the United States.
    • (Pg. 182):  Kiron writes that “Communist China as the greatest threat to US interests.”
    • (Pg. 180):  Kiron appears to have a deep racist bent when talking about China that could portend a military response.   She talks about five millennia of Chinese leadership that oppressed its people and concludes “…the PRC challenge is rooted in China’s strategic culture and not just the Marxism-Leninism of the CCP, meaning that internal culture and civil society will never deliver a more normative nation.  The PRC’s aggressive behavior can only be curbed through external pressure.” 
  • She uses language that sounds like veiled threats to use military intervention. Besides China, she calls out Iran, Venezuela, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (north Korea) and others.
    • (Pg. 182):  “…continued US involvement must be fully paid for; limited to military aid (while European allies address Ukraine’s economic needs); and have a clearly defined national security strategy that does not risk American lives.”
    • (Pg.  184):  Regarding Western Hemisphere nations like Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana and Ecuador, she writes “This leadership and collaboration must span all tools at the disposal of US allies and partners, including security-focused cooperation.” She does not accept the reality that allowing Russia to take Ukraine is Putin’s desire to resurrect the Soviet Union’s hegemony, and will encourage Putin to go after former Soviet, now NATO countries, like those in the Baltics, thus requiring a US response.  Her support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion is limited.
    • (Pg. 183) The Monroe Doctrine returns – Part 1! (From Vanessa) A “Sovereign Mexico” policy to overcome Mexico’s current status as a nearly-failed state, in their judgment. This is a new term and somewhat concerning given the tendency for double-speak and history of US intervention and manipulation of Mexican governments. In other words, I am concerned that it means the US would like to place their own “man” in charge of Mexico. Not much more is said about this here, worth watching, however.
    • (Pg. 183 – 184) The Monroe Doctrine returns – Part 2! Hey, are we fighting on Mexican soil? “The next Administration must leverage its new insistence on a sovereign Mexico and work with other Western Hemisphere partners to halt the fentanyl crisis and put a decisive end to this unprecedented public health threat.” We also apparently have “an opportunity lead these democratic neighbors (Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, and Ecuador) to fight against the external pressure of threats from abroad and address local regional security concerns.“
    • (Pg. 184) The Monroe Doctrine returns – Part 3! Because we don’t believe in climate change, which is a major force of immigration, we “must work with Mexico, Canada, and other countries to develop a hemisphere-focused energy policy that will reduce reliance on distant and manipulable sources of fossil fuels, restore the free flow of energy among the hemisphere’s largest producers, and work together to increase energy production.“
    • (Pg. 185):  regarding Iran, she writes “supporting through public diplomacy and otherwise (my emphasis), freedom-seeking Iranian people in their revolt against the mullahs;…”
    • (Pg.185):  There is no talk about supporting a two-state solution in Israel. Instead, she writes that “The Palestinian Authority should be defunded.
  • There is a definite retreat from linking foreign policy to human rights and international bodies.
    • (Pg. 187:)  “African nations are particularly (and reasonably) non-receptive to the US social policies such as abortion and pro-LGBT initiatives being imposed on them.”
    • (Pg. 178) Refugees beware! Our focus will be on screening, which will necessitate in an indefinite curtailment of the number of U.S. Refugee Admission Program (USRAP)refugee admissions.
    • (Pg. 188):  “Outside the EU, trade with the post-Brexit UK needs urgent development before London slips back into the orbit of the EU.
    • (Pg. 190):  “…membership in these organizations must always be understood as a means to attain defined goals rather than an end in itself.”  (referring to the UN)
    • (Pg. 191):  “…The manifest failure and corruption of the World Health Organization during COVID-19 pandemic is an example of the danger that international organizations pose to US citizens and interests…..end blind support for international organizations…  The Trump Administration withdrew from, or terminated funding for the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the UN Relief and Works Agency and the WHO…other organizations getting the message that the US will not allow itself and its money to be used to undermine its own interests…International organizations should not be used to promote radical social policies as if they were human rights priorities.”
    • (Pg. 192):  “It must promote a strict text-based interpretation of treaty obligations that does not consider human rights treaties as ‘living instruments’ both within the State Department and within international organizations that receive US funding…”
    • (Pg. 192):  The document relies on a extreme right-wing document, the “US Commission on Unalienable Human Rights” which focuses on narrow religious, anti-LGBTQ bias…initiatives that promote controversial policies must be halted and rolled back….The US government should not and cannot promote or fund abortion in international programs or multilateral organizations….The COVID-19 pandemic made it painfully clear that both international organizations – and some countries- are only too willing to trample human rights in the name of public health.”
  • The Arctic Circle is to be exploited.
    • (Pg.  189):  “The arctic is a vast expanse of land and sea rich in resources, including fish, minerals and energy…is estimated to contain 90 million barrels of oil and one-quarter of the world’s undiscovered natural gas reserves….”
  • (Pg. 190):  “The US should unapologetically purse American interests in the by promoting economic freedom in the region.”