Make China/Taiwan denial defense the sole top force-planning priority
Mandate requires all U.S. defense efforts to focus on prevailing in a China pacing scenario and denying a Taiwan fait accompli before allocating resources to other simultaneous conflicts.
Mandate
Mandate Ch. 4 (Department of Defense) — DOD Policy Needed Reforms: prioritize denial defense against China; require all defense efforts from force planning to employment focus on pacing scenario and deny China fait accompli against Taiwan; prioritize conventional force planning construct to defeat Chinese invasion of Taiwan before allocating resources to other missions such as simultaneously fighting another conflict.
Undo plan
1) Rebalance NDS to a multi-theater strategy reflecting Russia, Iran, DPRK, and terrorism alongside China.
2) Restore force-planning constructs that size for more than one major contingency if Congress so directs.
3) Protect alliance commitments in Europe and Middle East from automatic resource starvation.
4) Publish transparent strategy tradeoffs to Congress rather than single-scenario lock-in.
5) Verify: NDS/NDAA alignment audits; readiness metrics across theaters.
Sources
- https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
- https://archive.org/stream/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL_djvu.txt
- https://whatisproject2025.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHAPTER-04.pdf
- https://whatisproject2025.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2025_MandateForLeadership_SECTION-02.pdf