Deputy Secretary of War, Steve Feinberg

Pete Hegseth rejects report of White House search to replace Pentagon deputy secretary

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is pushing back hard against a Reuters report claiming the White House is considering replacements for his deputy, Steve Feinberg, a story he says is “COMPLETELY false” and driven by outside interests opposed to reform.

On September 5, 2026, Pete Hegseth took to X to flatly deny that the White House had interviewed candidates to replace Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, after a report from Reuters, published the day before, according to Mediaite’s reporting, sparked speculation about more turnover at the top of the Pentagon.

Hegseth’s response was blunt and personal, calling the story “COMPLETELY false” and framing it as an attack by “outside forces” threatened by Feinberg’s success in advancing the president’s agenda.
“The [Department of Defense] has never had a better Deputy Secretary than Steve Feinberg,” Hegseth declared in his post, adding, “Outside forces (i.e. companies he is pressing for results!) want Steve gone because he is so effective in advancing [President Donald Trump’s] agenda. His leadership is HISTORIC.”

Reuters had reported, citing three unnamed people familiar with the discussions, that the White House had interviewed candidates to replace Feinberg. But Hegseth’s public denial left little room for ambiguity, and the Department of Defense (War) under his leadership is presenting a unified front against what it views as unfounded rumors.

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Stephen Andrew Feinberg is an American billionaire businessman and government official serving as the 36th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense. Sworn into office on March 17, 2025, he functions as the chief operating officer for the department, which was formally renamed the Department of War later that year. Before entering the Pentagon, Feinberg was best known as the co-founder and long-time CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, a global private equity firm managing roughly $70 billion in assets.