Trump picks billionaire financier for deputy defense secretary

President-elect Donald Trump announced Sunday night that he will nominate Stephen Feinberg, a billionaire political supporter who has been involved in the defense contracting business, to serve as deputy defense secretary.

Trump made the announcement on social media amid continued uncertainty about whether his choice for top Defense Department post, Pete Hegseth, has enough support for confirmation in the Senate.

The Washington Post first reported in early December that Trump had offered the job to Feinberg.

Feinberg is the co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which has invested in hypersonic missiles and previously owned the private military contractor DynCorp, a company that was acquired by another defense firm, Amentum, in 2020.

During the first Trump administration, Feinberg led the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which provides the U.S. leader advice on intelligence assessments and estimates and counterintelligence matters. In his announcement Sunday night on Truth Social, Trump said Feinberg is “an extremely successful businessman” who will “help Make the Pentagon Great Again.”

Feinberg, who has been a reclusive Wall Street executive, is likely to be questioned about whether there is any conflict arising from his work in defense contracting matters and whether he is qualified to play such a major role in helping run the Pentagon.

The deputy defense secretary typically manages day-to-day operations of the massive bureaucracy with a combined workforce of more than 3 million service members and civilian employees. The search for a capable No. 2 took on heightened significance as lawmakers weigh the pick of Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, to be defense secretary.

The Post reported earlier this month that allegations against Hegseth of excessive drinking have shadowed his career.

In addition, Hegseth’s attorney has said that Hegseth paid an undisclosed sum to a woman who alleged that he raped her in 2017 at a California event for Republican women. The local police and district attorney looked into the allegation and brought no charges against Hegseth. The attorney said that a consensual sexual encounter took place, that Hegseth was “visibly intoxicated” and that the woman was the aggressor.

Hegseth has been among Trump’s most controversial picks. Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he recently met with Hegseth and “there was no way that we’re going to resolve those [issues that have been raised] in a 30-minute conversation.” He said the matter came up “only so slightly.”

Curtis said he was gathering more information about Hegseth, so “for me, they remain unresolved, and I shouldn’t try to resolve them until I have this big, broad canvas of information about him.”

Trump also announced several other Defense Department picks Sunday night. He tapped Elbridge A. Colby as undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department. Colby served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in the first Trump administration. Colby has been a longtime China hawk and has advocated defending Taiwan if there is a conflict with China.

Trump also tapped Keith Bass, a retired Navy officer, to serve as assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. Bass led the White House Medical Unit, which provides health care to the president and other senior officials, during the Obama and Trump administrations.

Bass’s tenure in that role drew scrutiny and complaints from staff members who said that he and his ally Ronny Jackson, who served as physician to the president, oversaw an operation that widely dispensed sedatives and stimulants, among other concerns. The Pentagon’s inspector general earlier this year issued a report that substantiated some of those allegations and called for changes to the White House Medical Unit’s operations.