Troy Edgar, a contributor to Project 2025’s over 900-page Mandate for Leadership, has been chosen as Trump’s Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, a Senate-confirmed position.

Edgar served as the Chief Financial Officer and Associate Deputy Under Secretary of Management for Homeland Security during Trump’s first term, where Trump said he managed border wall construction.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune found that under Trump, border construction cost “about five times more per mile than it did under previous administrations.” About a quarter of those expenses came in 2020, the investigation found. Edgar was confirmed as Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Homeland Security in May 2020. 

Experts told ProPublica and the Texas Tribune that “the amount of money awarded through modifications” was “amazingly high.” Awarding money through contract modifications allowed the Trump administration to choose the recipients without going through the normal competitive bidding process. “The taxpayer is paying much more than if the whole contract were out for competitive bids,” Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore contracting expert, told the reporters.

Edgar’s bio on the DHS website says he “spent nearly a decade in the aerospace industry at Boeing” and helped “lead the merger between McDonnell Douglas and Boeing and the privatization of Kelly Air Force Base.” Harvard Business School and CNN both identify financial officers from that time frame – and the McDonnell Douglas merger in particular – as the origin of Boeing’’s modern institutional problems, culminating in two deadly plane crashes and the second grounding of the Boeing 737 Max in 2024.

Trump also credited Edgar with helping “lead the City and County revolt against Sanctuary Cities in 2018,” a reference to his time as mayor of Los Alamitos. Edgar was mayor when Los Alamitos attempted to unlawfully exempt themselves from California’s sanctuary law. The decision was ultimately fruitless and costly: after an expensive legal battle, Los Alamitos repealed their anti-immigrant ordinance and paid an additional $200,000 to Los Alamitos Community United as part of a settlement.

Contrary to his claims, Edgar’s legacy in public office is one of exorbitant costs in pursuit of his anti-immigrant sensibilities, not careful management and fiscal responsibility.