Senior officials at the White House have been quietly vetting potential replacements for Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg. Reuters reported that the vetting effort dates back to at least June, with two of its sources saying White House officials had sounded out senior Senators on whether prospective nominees could win confirmation. One source indicated the exercise was still active as recently as late August, though the outlet could not pin down exactly when the search began or who was being considered. The administration, meanwhile, insists no such process exists and that Feinberg remains firmly in his post. Both the White House and the Pentagon rejected the report outright. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed the sourcing behind the story, while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Feinberg had his complete backing and was "doing a tremendous job." The Pentagon separately denied that any replacement search was under way and declined to make Fei...
Senior officials at the White House have been quietly vetting potential replacements for Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg.
Reuters reported that the vetting effort dates back to at least June, with two of its sources saying White House officials had sounded out senior Senators on whether prospective nominees could win confirmation.
One source indicated the exercise was still active as recently as late August, though the outlet could not pin down exactly when the search began or who was being considered.
The administration, meanwhile, insists no such process exists and that Feinberg remains firmly in his post.
Both the White House and the Pentagon rejected the report outright. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed the sourcing behind the story, while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Feinberg had his complete backing and was "doing a tremendous job."
The Pentagon separately denied that any replacement search was under way and declined to make Feinberg available to comment directly.
Should Feinberg eventually depart, it would represent the most senior casualty yet in a Pentagon that has already churned through several top officials under Hegseth.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stepped down this week after a prolonged rift with the defence secretary, following earlier exits by Navy Secretary John Phelan and multiple senior Army figures.
Much of the internal friction traces back to the private-equity billionaire's struggle to deliver on a pledge to speed up US munitions output, a goal complicated, analysts say, by a defence-industrial base that cannot expand output fast enough and by Congress's sluggish pace in approving funding.
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The Washington Post reported this month that Hegseth privately blamed Feinberg during a meeting with Trump at Camp David for allowing stocks of long-range missiles and air-defence interceptors to fall. The White House has rejected that account.
Feinberg has also faced questions on Capitol Hill. Senator Elizabeth Warren has raised concerns over whether his former firm, Cerberus Capital Management, could benefit from Pentagon contracts linked to the Golden Dome missile-defence programme.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Feinberg had fully left Cerberus and no longer handled any dealings between the firm and the department.
The scrutiny comes as Trump has become increasingly frustrated with the six-month-old war with Iran and the lack of a breakthrough, even as he has publicly played down concerns about depleted US munitions.
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