Stephen Feinberg

Feinberg was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Defense on March 14, 2025, in a 59-40 Senate vote. Senator Warren characterized his proposed divestment as insufficient in two letters dated February 17 and March 9, 2025 ⁴. He is the second-highest civilian official at the Pentagon, with authority over procurement, personnel, and strategic direction. Prior to confirmation, Feinberg chaired the Trump Intelligence Advisory Board in 2017 and pledged during confirmation hearings to review procurement programs line-by-line ¹.

Through Cerberus, Feinberg held equity in at least seven companies with a combined $15.9 billion or more in Department of Defense business, including defense test systems, military aircraft training, military vehicle manufacturers, hypersonic test data firms, and foreign military training companies ². Cerberus owned DynCorp International from 2010 to 2020; during that period, according to POGO and press reporting, DynCorp trained four Saudi operatives later identified as participants in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, and the DOJ sued Cerberus for DynCorp's intentional overcharging of the State Department ². The Revolving Door Project argued that post-divestment conflicts persist because Feinberg could shape decisions benefiting companies likely to employ him after government service ².

Cerberus-backed Ligado Networks filed a $39 billion lawsuit against the federal government over 5G spectrum rights. At the time of Feinberg's confirmation, Cerberus held approximately 14% of Ligado's debt and approximately 24% of its preferred stock, representing a $3.3 billion total stake. Feinberg's proposed remedy — transferring holdings to irrevocable trusts for his adult children — was flagged by Warren as inadequate because the family would profit from any favorable DoD posture toward the litigation ⁴. Feinberg also retained an administrative services contract with Cerberus covering accounting and tax compliance as of 2026 ethics filings ⁵.

Emil Michael was installed as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering during the same period, placing two officials with private equity and venture capital backgrounds in the top non-Secretary civilian positions overseeing defense procurement ¹. Feinberg also issued a memo directing Pentagon implementation of Trump administration regulatory review modeled on DOGE's framework; Cerberus portfolio companies collectively held $15.9 billion or more in DoD business that would be affected by restructured procurement rules Connection #2690.

FEC records confirm $2.4 million or more in Republican political spending between 2016 and 2020. In the 2016 cycle, Feinberg contributed $975,000 and $500,000 to Rebuilding America Now PAC and $100,200 three times to the Republican National Committee; he was simultaneously a member of Trump's Economic Advisory Council. In the 2020 cycle, he contributed $1 million to America First Action, $357,800 to Trump Victory, and $35,500 to the RNC. He also donated to Senator Bill Hagerty, who introduced him for his Deputy Secretary confirmation hearing, and to Greg Pence. A $5,400 donation to Senator Chuck Schumer's campaign represents his only recorded contribution to a Democratic candidate in this period ⁶. LittleSis records Feinberg as a major shareholder in Cerberus entities with lobbying relationships to both the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation ³.

POGO's investigation of the DOJ Epstein file release identified at least 20 documents naming Feinberg personally and approximately 360 documents referencing Cerberus Capital Management. Documents bearing Feinberg's name span the period 2009 to 2018, with some involving Deutsche Bank ⁷. Emails from 2009 and 2013 indicate Epstein maintained a business relationship with Cerberus, per POGO's reporting ¹⁰. POGO characterized these ties as sufficiently significant to lead its investigation under the headline "Epstein Files Show Financial Ties to DOD Deputy Secretary Feinberg" ¹⁰.

The EFTA document corpus provides additional granularity. EFTA02504674 is an April 16, 2015 email from Andrew Farkas to Jeffrey Epstein stating: "Harvard has soft circled $150mm. Cerberus $200mm. Och/ziff $100mm, York $100mm. Still working!" — placing Cerberus as a committed participant in an Epstein-adjacent investment fund alongside other participants in Epstein-connected investment circles ⁸. EFTA02571386 references "The Cerberus investment was done with Ezra Merkin, similar to the Ascot and Gabriel investments," linking the Cerberus position to Merkin, who operated Ascot Partners — the Bernie Madoff feeder fund — and Gabriel Capital ⁸. EFTA02686169 and EFTA02686246 are World Economic Forum attendee lists showing Frank Bruno, President of Cerberus Global Investment Advisors LLC, and Feinberg himself as attendees ⁸. EFTA02441498 and related documents are Farkas emails to Epstein discussing "Project Silver" and Cerberus providing access to everything it had done — indicating operational cooperation ⁸.

Deutsche Bank employees flagged Cerberus as a "high risk" account in a July 2018 internal email recovered from the Epstein files. Six Cerberus guarantors were never processed through Deutsche Bank's Know Your Client compliance procedure — a standard anti-money-laundering requirement. Deutsche Bank was simultaneously managing Epstein's own investments from 2013 to 2018 ⁹. Christopher DiIorio, a whistleblower whose emails appear in the Epstein files, alleged that Cerberus and Feinberg used shell companies to funnel and obscure money transfers with SEC enablement ¹¹. These allegations remain unverified and unresolved; the Pentagon declined to respond when POGO requested comment ⁵.

Within the Pentagon, Feinberg's closest institutional counterpart is Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Michael's portfolio includes oversight of the Missile Defense Agency and the research programs most likely to generate new acquisition requirements; Feinberg as Deputy Secretary holds authority over the procurement and policy apparatus that translates those requirements into contracts. Together they occupy the two top civilian-level posts overseeing the defense acquisition pipeline below the Secretary ¹.

Feinberg's relationship with Andrew Farkas is documented through the Epstein EFTA corpus: Farkas sent multiple emails to Epstein discussing Cerberus investments, named a "Project Silver" involving Cerberus's cooperation, and presented Cerberus's $200 million investment commitment alongside other allocators. Farkas functioned as an intermediary between Cerberus's investment activity and Epstein's financial circle Connection #2724, ⁸.

The connection to Jeffrey Epstein is documented through the EFTA corpus rather than through any direct communication. The 360 Cerberus references in Epstein's files, the 2009 and 2013 business correspondence, the 2015 co-investment email, and the Ezra Merkin linkage collectively indicate that Cerberus and Epstein-adjacent financial networks overlapped during the period covered by the files. The nature of any direct relationship between Feinberg personally and Epstein has not been established by publicly available evidence Connection #2723, ⁸.

Erik Prince and Feinberg share a parallel position in defense privatization advocacy: in 2017, both independently pitched Afghan war privatization plans to the Trump White House through Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon. Prince's pitch was documented contemporaneously; Feinberg's was linked to Cerberus's DynCorp ownership. No direct coordination between the two on specific policy initiatives has been established Connection #3218.

Cerberus's ownership of DynCorp International from 2010 to 2020 gives Feinberg a direct prior relationship with private military contracting. DynCorp provided foreign military training under State Department contracts; during the Cerberus ownership period, according to press reporting, four Saudi operatives trained by DynCorp were identified as participants in the October 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Department of Justice sued Cerberus for DynCorp's intentional overcharging of the State Department ². Feinberg pledged during his confirmation process to review Pentagon procurement programs line-by-line ¹, though the Revolving Door Project noted that the same review authority would extend to programs involving current and former Cerberus portfolio companies ².

Feinberg was also considered for the Deputy Secretary role during the 2016-2017 transition, though the position was not filled at that time. His 2017 role as chairman of the Trump Intelligence Advisory Board gave him access to intelligence community priorities and procurement planning during a period when Cerberus was actively managing its defense portfolio ¹. His approach to defense through Cerberus — acquiring and managing existing defense services companies — contrasts with the new-entrant defense technology model represented by Palmer Luckey's Anduril Industries Connection #2710.