Warsh Hires Two Outside Advisers with Conservative Policy Backgrounds

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has engaged two external policy advisers, Paul Winfree and Daniel Heil, to assist with analysis and planning as he begins his chairmanship. Both advisers have roots in conservative policy networks and professional experience in areas that fall largely outside the Fed's core responsibilities of monetary policy and bank supervision. Their roles are structured as temporary contracting arrangements, and no decisions have been made about permanent appointments.

Key Points

Two outside advisers - Paul Winfree and Daniel Heil - have been engaged to advise Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh.
Winfree authored the Federal Reserve chapter of Project 2025 and previously served as a White House domestic policy specialist during the first Trump administration.
Heil is a Hoover Institution policy fellow who worked on Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign and has recently focused on federal healthcare spending and Social Security policy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has brought two outside associates on board to advise him as he assumes his new responsibilities, according to people familiar with the matter. The pair includes a former White House domestic policy specialist and a Hoover Institution fellow whose recent work has addressed federal healthcare spending and Social Security.

Paul Winfree is one of the advisers. He served as a White House domestic policy specialist during the first Trump administration and is the author of the Federal Reserve chapter in Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint prepared prior to the 2024 election.

Daniel Heil is the other appointee. Heil is a policy fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and previously worked as an economic policy adviser for Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. Recent work by Heil has explored ways to reduce federal healthcare spending and has addressed Social Security policy.

Both Winfree and Heil have developed careers within conservative policy circles. The professional focus of their backgrounds, as described, emphasizes policy areas that lie largely outside the Federal Reserve's central responsibilities of setting monetary policy and supervising banks.

According to the reports, the two advisers would operate as temporary contractors assigned to support Warsh with policy analysis and planning. The chairman has not made final decisions on whether to convert those arrangements into permanent positions within the central bank.

Context and scope

The hires are positioned as advisory and analytical support. The reporting specifies their past roles and recent policy work but does not detail any formal, long-term appointments or a broader reorganization of staff within the Federal Reserve.

What is certain from the reporting

Two outside associates have been brought in to advise the chairman.
One adviser authored the Federal Reserve chapter of Project 2025; the other has recent work on healthcare spending and Social Security.
Both advisers would serve as temporary contractors while the chairman considers whether to create permanent roles.

Risks

Uncertainty over permanence - the chairman has not made final decisions about creating permanent positions for the advisers, leaving their long-term roles unresolved. Impacted sectors: public sector staffing and central bank governance.
Potential scope mismatch - both advisers' professional experience centers on areas outside the Fed's core duties of monetary policy and bank regulation, which could present uncertainty about alignment with the institution's principal functions. Impacted sectors: financial sector and central banking operations.
Limited detail on advisory remit - reporting specifies temporary contracts for policy analysis and planning but does not define the full scope or authority of the advisers' roles, creating an information gap. Impacted sectors: policymaking and regulatory oversight.

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Warsh Hires Two Outside Advisers with Conservative Policy Backgrounds

Key Points

Risks

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