Stephen Feinberg, the Pentagon’s second ranking civilian official, recently gave his first newspaper interview on the record in nearly two decades. The billionaire investor now manages much of the military’s trillion dollar budget while overseeing an extraordinary collection of Trump administration projects.

Feinberg’s long avoidance of the media dates to his tenure leading Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm behind debt financed purchases of Chrysler and General Motors. His previous major interview came in April 2008, amid mounting criticism of Cerberus and Chrysler’s dismissal of more than 10,000 employees.

At the time, Feinberg portrayed the uproar as a failure of communication. “I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t know me from thinking a lot of things,” he said. “Our approach may have been a mistake with the public.”

Five months later, the stock market crashed and the global economy fell with it. Chrysler and GM entered deep bankruptcies before receiving federal rescues, leaving Feinberg’s Wall Street record as a troubling backdrop for his expansive Pentagon role.

His new interview with The Wall Street Journal carried a familiar note of preemptive damage control. “I’m sure I’m going to make the mistakes, OK?” Feinberg said. “And I’m sure everyone will talk about the mistakes when we make them. But that’s part of trying to make changes and being urgent.”

Anonymous skeptics within the Department of War questioned whether Feinberg’s Wall Street methods belong inside the military. Criticism of his tenure has focused both on his strategic decisions and apparent conflicts involving former Cerberus associates throughout his circle.

Feinberg supervises military investment offices staffed with former Cerberus executives. Those offices have purchased equity and issued major loans to companies in the military supply chain, including businesses with connections to the Trump family and other politically connected private investors.

One investment office originally created under the Biden administration to support domestic defense production is now involved in managing the United States’ Venezuela oil deal. It also considered a $5 billion loan for AI infrastructure with a new bank founded by defense technology billionaire Palmer Luckey.

Feinberg also created the Economic Defense Unit and installed former Cerberus associate George Kollitides as its leader. Kollitides heads Business Operators for National Defense, a consortium that plans to “embed” hundreds of defense executives inside Pentagon offices.

The responsibilities keep piling up. Feinberg is overseeing contracting changes, missile production intended to replenish stockpiles depleted during the Iran war, the trillion dollar Golden Dome program, shipbuilding plans, and a new office directing the military’s drone expansion.

He has also gained substantial influence over the Department of War’s civilian workforce. The administration has reduced that workforce by more than 10% while pursuing “consolidated functions, flattened hierarchies” and a strategy of “speed over process.”

Concerns raised during Feinberg’s nomination have only intensified. M1 Mission First, a Cerberus backed aircraft company, received a Department of War contract worth up to $10 billion over 26 years, prompting public criticism from Trump ally Laura Loomer.

ProPublica later reported that the DoW awarded a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars without competition to Alvarez & Marsal, a financial services and advisory firm tied to Kollitides and Cerberus. The firm will advise the Pentagon investment office run by Kollitides.

The department used an Other Transaction Authority to hire Alvarez & Marsal. Watchdogs have warned that these arrangements leave “the government at the mercy of vendors” and are “not subject to many of the federal laws and regulations governing procurement contracts that protect the government and taxpayers.”

The American Prospect separately reported that the Pentagon hired McDermott Will & Schulte, whose lawyers serve as outside counsel to Cerberus. One attorney involved has represented Feinberg personally for decades and manages the irrevocable trust intended to separate his investments from his government duties.

McDermott was hired to help negotiate Pentagon equity investments in critical minerals companies. Cerberus has invested in that industry for years, including in Canada based Torngat Metals, a rare earth mining company founded in 2018 that has not built a mine.

Pentagon spokespeople have repeatedly defended these arrangements by citing a “rigorous, multi-layered ethics framework.” The department has not explained what that framework contains or why it has not prevented recurring appearances of conflicts, and it did not answer a request about its ethics protocols.

A Fox News poll found 88% of voters concerned about corruption, including 60% who were extremely concerned. Democratic lawmakers have promised investigations if they regain committee control, potentially making Feinberg’s next reluctant interview a congressional hearing rather than another carefully managed newspaper appearance.