The document is massive. Nearly 900 pages of dense, policy-heavy prose that reads like a cross between a legal brief and a revolutionary manifesto. If you’ve spent any time on social media or watching the news lately, you’ve heard the name. But who wrote Project 2025 Heritage Foundation? People keep asking because it’s not just one person. It’s a literal army of former bureaucrats, lawyers, and think-tank lifers.
It’s easy to get lost in the "Mandate for Leadership" jargon. Honestly, most people won't ever read the whole thing. They just want to know who is pulling the strings and why it matters for the next election cycle. This isn't just a random PDF floating around the internet; it’s a coordinated effort from over 100 conservative organizations, led by the Heritage Foundation, to provide a "turnkey" administration for the next Republican president.
The Architect: Paul Dans and the Personnel Pivot
Paul Dans is the name that pops up first. He served as the director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project until July 2024. Before that, he was a high-level official in the Trump administration, specifically at the Office of Personnel Management.
Why does that matter? Because OPM is basically the HR department of the federal government.
Dans knew better than anyone how the "deep state"—a term the authors use constantly—could slow down a president's agenda. He didn't just want policy papers. He wanted names. He wanted a database of thousands of vetted conservatives ready to walk into government jobs on Day One. When people ask who wrote Project 2025 Heritage Foundation, they are often looking for a single mastermind, and Dans is the closest thing to it on the administrative side. He stepped down after some friction with the Trump campaign, but his DNA is all over the personnel pillars of the project.
The Policy Heavyweights Behind the Chapters
The book is divided into sections covering every nook and cranny of the federal government. You’ve got the Department of Justice, the EPA, the Department of Education—you name it. Each chapter has a specific lead author.
Spencer Chretien is another big one. He’s the associate director and a former special assistant to the president. Then you have the more "famous" names in policy circles.
💡 You might also like: Why the 2013 Moore Oklahoma Tornado Changed Everything We Knew About Survival
- Russell Vought: He wrote the chapter on the Executive Office of the President. Vought was the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Trump. He’s a guy who knows where the money is buried. He is also the founder of the Center for Renewing America. His influence is why the document focuses so much on "Schedule F," which is a fancy way of saying they want to turn career civil servant jobs into political appointments.
- Gene Hamilton: He took on the Department of Justice. Hamilton worked at the DOJ and is a key figure at America First Legal. His writing focuses on ending the independence of the DOJ and making it more accountable to the President.
- Thomas Gilman: He handled the Department of Commerce.
- Mandy Gunasekara: She was the Chief of Staff at the EPA and wrote the section on environmental policy. Her goal? Drastically scaling back the agency’s regulatory reach.
It's a "who's who" of the 2016-2020 administration. If you worked in a Cabinet-level agency during those four years and stayed loyal, there’s a good chance your name is in the contributors' list.
Why the Authorship Became a Political Lightning Rod
Politics is messy.
Donald Trump famously tried to distance himself from the project, claiming on Truth Social that he had "no idea who is behind it" and that some of their ideas were "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal." But here’s the thing: CNN did an analysis and found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration were involved in Project 2025.
So, when we look at who wrote Project 2025 Heritage Foundation, the gap between "official" campaign policy and "Heritage" policy gets real blurry. You have guys like Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, who has been very vocal about a "second American Revolution." Roberts didn't write every word, but he set the tone. He’s the one who turned the Heritage Foundation from a traditional think tank into a much more aggressive, "institutional" vanguard for the New Right.
The Role of the Associate Organizations
It wasn't just Heritage. They built a coalition.
Think of it like a massive group project where everyone is an expert in one specific, niche area of grievance. The American Moment, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Heartland Institute all had seats at the table. This is why the document covers everything from banning pornography to dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It’s a grab bag of conservative desires from the last forty years, all updated for the "America First" era.
📖 Related: Ethics in the News: What Most People Get Wrong
Breaking Down the "Four Pillars"
The authors didn't just write a book. They built a system.
- The Policy Manual: This is the 900-page book everyone talks about.
- The Personnel Database: A LinkedIn for MAGA, basically.
- The Training Academy: They call it the "Presidential Administration Academy." It’s an online course to teach people how to actually run an agency.
- The Playbook: A secret (or at least, non-public) 180-day plan to execute the most controversial parts of the agenda immediately.
Kevin Roberts has been the face of this structure. He's a former college president who brings an academic's rigor but a brawler's rhetoric. He's argued that the project is necessary because the "Left" has captured every other institution in America, from universities to the Disney Corporation.
The Controversy Over "Christian Nationalism"
A lot of the heat around who wrote Project 2025 Heritage Foundation comes from the religious language in the document.
While many authors are standard-issue fiscal conservatives, others come from the "National Conservatism" wing. They talk about "restoring the family as the centerpiece of American life." This has led to accusations that the project is a blueprint for Christian Nationalism. The authors themselves would probably just call it "ordered liberty."
Whether you agree or not, the fingerprints of groups like the Ethics and Public Policy Center are visible. They aren't hiding it. They want a government that actively promotes specific traditional values, rather than one that claims to be neutral.
What Happens to the Authors Now?
After the media firestorm in mid-2024, the project went a bit "underground." Paul Dans left. Heritage said they were finishing the policy phase and moving into the "implementation" phase.
👉 See also: When is the Next Hurricane Coming 2024: What Most People Get Wrong
But the people who wrote it haven't gone anywhere.
They are still the primary advisors to the GOP infrastructure. If a Republican wins in the future, these are the names that will be on the shortlists for Undersecretary of this or Deputy Director of that. You can't just delete 900 pages of policy work. It's essentially the "brain trust" of the modern conservative movement.
Moving Forward: How to Track the Influence
If you want to keep tabs on how this policy actually plays out, don't just look at the Heritage Foundation website. Look at the organizations where these authors landed.
- Watch the Center for Renewing America.
- Keep an eye on America First Legal.
- Follow the Claremont Institute.
These are the vessels for the ideas written in Project 2025. The document might be "disavowed" by candidates for political reasons, but the people who wrote it are the ones who know how to draft executive orders.
To really understand the impact, you should look at the specific policy areas that affect your life. If you care about the environment, read the Gunasekara chapter. If you care about the economy, look at what Vought is saying about the Fed. The authors might be a "shadow cabinet" for now, but they've provided a very clear map of exactly what they intend to do if they get back into the halls of power.
Knowledge is the only way to not get blindsided by the 24-hour news cycle. Check the primary sources. Most of the authors are public about their roles on their own social media profiles or organizational bios. It's all hidden in plain sight.
Actionable Next Steps
- Verify the Source: If you see a claim about Project 2025, look up the specific chapter lead for that topic to see their previous legislative record.
- Cross-Reference: Compare the "Mandate for Leadership" with the official RNC platform to see where they overlap and where they diverge.
- Monitor Appointments: In any future transition, watch for the names Russell Vought, Gene Hamilton, or Spencer Chretien; their presence in a transition team is the most reliable indicator of Project 2025's actual adoption.