FRUSTRATION OVER THE IRAN WAR
Trump has more and more expressed frustration with the dearth of progress within the six-month-old Iran war, which has settled right into a pricey standoff between the US and Iran.
One of many prices has been a drawdown of US weapons stockpiles. Reuters has reported that the US navy faces vital shortages of sure munitions, which have alarmed Congress and navy leaders.
Trump has dismissed the issues, saying the US has “way more munitions than anybody on the earth”.
However in an trade with Trump at Camp David earlier this month, in accordance with the Washington Put up, Hegseth blamed Feinberg for letting stockpiles of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors shrink.
The White Home has referred to as the report “faux information”. In an announcement to Reuters, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell mentioned: “Secretary Hegseth didn’t mislead anybody about our munitions posture, and he didn’t blame Deputy Secretary Feinberg.”
Appointed by Trump final yr, Feinberg has tried to reshape the Pentagon by ramping up the US navy’s direct investments in corporations and delivering loans to navy contractors by a number of workplaces contained in the division, together with the Workplace of Strategic Capital and the newly created Financial Protection Unit.
In an Aug 18 memo he despatched to protection corporations and seen by Reuters, Feinberg referred to as on contractors to hurry up manufacturing and supply extra transparency round pricing. The Pentagon didn’t reply to a query concerning the memo.
Feinberg has additionally come underneath scrutiny on Capitol Hill, the place Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren has raised issues about whether or not his former agency Cerberus may gain advantage from the Pentagon’s spending on its Golden Dome missile protection programme.
“There aren’t any conflicts of curiosity between Deputy Secretary of Battle Steve Feinberg and Cerberus,” mentioned Parnell. “He has utterly divested from Cerberus and has recused himself from any conversations or enterprise relationships between the Government Department and Cerberus.”
Cerberus didn’t reply to a request for remark.
