Billionaire financier Stephen Feinberg, who served as chair of the Intelligence Advisory Board during the first term of US President Donald Trump, has been appointed as the Defense Department's 36th deputy defense secretary.
Stephen Feinberg has officially been confirmed to be Deputy Secretary of Defense By a vote of 59-40.
— Kagan.Dunlap (@Kagan_M_Dunlap) March 14, 2025
Stephen Feinberg Is the co-founder and CEO of Cerberus Capital Management with a net worth of 5 billion dollars.
It has been said by various pundits that Stephen Fienberg is… pic.twitter.com/bWKGDnYpts
On Friday, the Senate voted 59-40 to confirm the appointment of Feinberg, a New York native and businessman, as the department's no.2.
Feinberg, who graduated from Princeton University in 1982, co-founded the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and is currently its majority owner.
He is said to have defended the planned firings at the Pentagon. Reports suggest that he refused to acknowledge the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
❗️ “Did Russia invade Ukraine?” U.S. The Deputy Secretary of Defense nominee can’t answer a simple question!
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 26, 2025
Senator Mark Kelly asks Stephen Feinberg a simple question:
“Did Russia invade Ukraine?”.
After his flawless answer, Mark added:
“It’s a pretty simple question I had for… pic.twitter.com/vHV0z3NQN8
Trump, who nominated him for the post, said Feinberg is an extremely successful businessman who can help make "the Pentagon great again."
"Congratulations to Stephen Feinberg, our new deputy secretary of defense. His appointment is well-deserved, and he's the right man for the job, the stakes couldn't be higher. Let's get to work," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a social media post.
Feinberg will now be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Department of Defence (DOD).
The billionaire investor underwent a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on February 25 during which he testified on topics including improving DOD's management of finances and strengthening the defense industrial base, a readout from the DOD said.
Feinberg, who has more than 40 years of experience in private sector financial markets, was asked what he would do to help the defense department to pass an audit. He responded, “In my humble opinion, at times, some of the people in the operational execution jobs are not involved in detail...We are going to set up a war room if I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, and we are going to go over every program, every cost, line by line, with an army of people until it's done.”
To another question, he said people who understand how companies in the private sector work need to be involved with procuring military materiel.
