How a reclusive private equity CEO gained major influence in Trump’s Pentagon

In the Donald Trump-era Pentagon, the most visible figure is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Stephen Feinberg, who reports to former Fox News host Hegseth and serves as deputy secretary of defense, doesn't appear in nearly as many media reports on President Trump's defense policy. But according to The Guardian's Aram Roston, Feinberg is having a major influence at the Pentagon behind the scenes despite being "reclusive" and "media-shy."

"His boss, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, makes frequent appearances working out with troops or insulting reporters at press conferences, and posts often on social media," Roston explains in The Guardian. "But Feinberg does not show his face. He has been obsessively media-shy for decades, and is so reclusive that since his confirmation hearing, he has not testified to a single committee on Capitol Hill, has held no press conferences and given no interviews. His press spokesperson left the government months into his tenure and has not been replaced. Still, 10 people across Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the defense contracting community say Feinberg has far eclipsed Hegseth in actual influence and impact."

A longtime Defense Department insider, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told The Guardian that at the Pentagon, "Everything is centered around Feinberg."

A financier described by Roston as someone "familiar with" Feinberg's "operations at the Department (of Defense)," told The Guardian, "I don't think there's anything that goes on that he doesn't have a stake in."

Roston notes, however, that "there is no evidence" that Feinberg is "engaged in Hegseth's ideological crusades inside the building."

Defense analyst Winslow Wheeler, a former Government Accountability Office (GOA) official, told The Guardian, "He’s perfectly happy to let Hegseth do that horses–– so long as Hegseth stays out of his hair and he can do what he wants."

A Pentagon official, quoted anonymously, told The Guardian, "In his mind, the most qualified people are the people who have been working for him for 10 years. Their whole thing is shaking up the way government works."

Outside the federal government, Feinberg — a billionaire — is known for founding the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. And liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) fears a conflict of interest.

In February 2025, Warren wrote, "I am concerned that your track record as a private equity executive shows you lack the skills and demonstrated experience needed to manage and execute the scale of reforms necessary at the Department of Defense."