A Private-Equity Billionaire Runs Pentagon Weapons Buying — and Congress Hasn't Funded Most of His Deals

The Pentagon's No. 2 is a buyout billionaire with a procurement office of his own and more than a dozen preliminary munitions deals. Congress hasn't funded most of them, and a framework deal isn't an order.

By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Friday, October 9, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, Friday, October 9, 2026, whose market figures are the Thursday, October 8 close (U.S. News)

Key Points

The Journal's Lara Seligman, Drew FitzGerald and Marcus Weisgerber profile Steve Feinberg — Cerberus Capital Management co-founder, now the Pentagon's No. 2 — who in a year and a half has set up a procurement office that answers to him and taken billions of dollars in government stakes in suppliers, from critical materials to rocket engines.
More than a dozen preliminary deals aim to get weapons makers and their suppliers producing munitions faster; the Journal's chart shows early framework deals with Lockheed Martin (Patriot and THAAD interceptors) and RTX (Tomahawk, Standard Missile-3, Standard Missile-6) struck months before contracts. Most of the effort still has no money from Congress, which is haggling over a $1.5 trillion defense-budget request.
The money gap in one meeting: last December Feinberg told lawmakers the Pentagon urgently needed roughly $28 billion more for new missiles. The year's funding bills were already done; Congress eventually added about $8 billion.
Spending the Journal documents: $300 million to the turnaround firm Alvarez & Marsal, about 300 retired executives at $150–$170 an hour walking contractor factories, and up to $244 million to Palantir for a platform called War Machine.
His Cerberus interests sit in an irrevocable trust for his adult children. Critics — some of the president's allies and some Democrats — still point to Cerberus companies that draw on national-security spending; a senior Pentagon official says profits on national-security investments that would reach the trust will go to charity. Lockheed is held at weight in 29 books, RTX in 19; nothing added.

$1.5T

defense-budget request Congress is still haggling over

$28B

Feinberg's urgent missile ask to lawmakers last December

$8B

what Congress eventually added after that request

$244M

the most Palantir can get for its War Machine platform

A truck-mounted missile launcher with its launch pod raised stands silhouetted on flat desert ground against a deep-blue dusk sky, a thin orange band on the horizon.

The Journal's chart: framework deals for Patriot, THAAD, Tomahawk and the Standard Missiles were struck early in the year, months before the contract actions — and some of those contracts aren't final.

In one line: A buyout billionaire is remaking how the Pentagon buys missiles, with more than a dozen preliminary deals and billions in government stakes — but Congress hasn't funded most of it, and for a defense shareholder a framework deal isn't revenue until it is.

“The president wants more. The secretary wants more. I want more.” That's Steve Feinberg — a Bronx-raised private-equity billionaire, co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management and now the Pentagon's No. 2 — in his first interview since taking the job last year. The more is weapons. In July, the Journal reports, the president had him called from Camp David to ask why reports still said the U.S. had paused attacks on Iran over dwindling weapons stocks, when restocking was Feinberg's job. For a Lockheed Martin (LMT) or RTX (RTX) shareholder, the question is narrower: what's a deal headline worth?

Lara Seligman, Drew FitzGerald and Marcus Weisgerber lay out what reads like a buyout firm's playbook run inside the Defense Department: a procurement office that answers to him, billions of dollars in government stakes in suppliers of critical materials, rocket engines and other parts, and a heavy reliance on firms and executives he knew from Cerberus. The itemized bills: $300 million to Alvarez & Marsal, the turnaround firm and longtime Cerberus partner; about 300 retired auto and other executives paid $150 to $170 an hour to walk contractors' factories and offer advice; and up to $244 million to Palantir (PLTR) for a platform called War Machine. Some officials have privately asked why the Pentagon, rather than the contractors, is paying; Feinberg says the department is short of people who've actually run a factory.

A framework is not an order

Here's the part that touches a portfolio. Under Feinberg the Pentagon has signed more than a dozen preliminary deals to push weapons makers and their suppliers to build munitions faster. The Journal's chart shows five early framework deals — Patriot and THAAD interceptors with Lockheed; Tomahawk, Standard Missile-3 and Standard Missile-6 with RTX — struck early in the year and months ahead of the contract actions, some of which aren't final. Congress hasn't funded most of the program; lawmakers are still haggling over the administration's $1.5 trillion defense-budget request. Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute calls the preliminary deals “a plan to make an agreement”; without funding, nothing starts. Last December showed the gap: Feinberg asked lawmakers for roughly $28 billion more for new missiles after the year's spending bills were done, and Congress eventually found about $8 billion. On A9 is the demand side: Ukraine is short of Patriot interceptors because of a global shortage since the U.S.-Iran war. The need is real. The money is the slow part.

The conflict-of-interest file gets both sides. Feinberg put his Cerberus interests in an irrevocable trust for his adult children; critics, among them some of the president's allies and Democrats, point to Cerberus companies that draw on national-security spending and to the defense-focused venture fund the firm launched in 2024. A senior Pentagon official says national-security profits that would otherwise reach the trust will go to charity, and a Cerberus spokesman says Feinberg isn't involved in its operations. The Pentagon also hired Cerberus's law firm to help negotiate some deals, and some weapons makers hired advisers including Goldman Sachs (GS), his former bank, to negotiate back.

Our read

This is Investments/Risk (IN04), and the rule is old: an announcement isn't an order, an order isn't revenue, and revenue isn't cash until it's billed and paid. A framework struck in winter that turns into a contract action months later — on a chart that warns some contracts aren't final — is a plan to buy. The Journal doesn't tie any of this to Thursday's prices and neither do we; for the record, Lockheed closed at $507.89, up $8.67, and RTX at $184.32, up $4.06. Lockheed is held at weight in 29 of our 81 model books, RTX in 19, General Dynamics (GD) in 19, Northrop Grumman (NOC) in 16 and Palantir in 20; nothing added.

Verdict: hold. When the next headline deal lands, look for the funded backlog in the company's filings rather than the press release — and the appropriation rather than the request. December made the point: a roughly $28 billion ask, made after the year's bills were done, came back as about $8 billion. That's one request, not a rule, but it's the difference between money asked for and money appropriated. If defense names have grown into a bigger slice of your portfolio than you decided on — general principles, not advice — that's a review question, and it's easier asked before the next budget fight than during it.

What It Means For Your Portfolio

Hold — judge defense stocks on funded contracts, not deals

More than a dozen preliminary Pentagon deals and a $28 billion ask that became about $8 billion: for a defense shareholder, only the funded contract counts.

General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. When a defense holding announces a framework or preliminary deal, look for three things before you count it: an appropriation from Congress, a signed contract with a dollar value, and the number showing up in the company's funded backlog. Until then it's a plan.

Lockheed Martin (LMT), RTX, General Dynamics (GD), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Palantir (PLTR) are held at weight — 29, 19, 19, 16 and 20 books respectively; nothing added. The demand for missiles is on two pages of Friday's paper; most of the money still waits on a budget Congress is haggling over.