Stephen Feinberg, the nominee to be the next deputy defense secretary, testifies Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON — Stephen Feinberg, President Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy defense secretary, declined Tuesday to say whether Russia invaded Ukraine and deflected questions from senators about planned cuts to the Pentagon’s civilian workforce.

Feinberg, the billionaire who co-founded the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, said he was not “informed” on negotiations between the U.S. and Russia to end the war in Ukraine and did not want to make public statements that could “undermine what the president and the secretary [of state]’s intent is.”

“I’m not privy to the details of what’s going on in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, what the sensitivities are, what the president is trying to accomplish so I’d be afraid to speak out of turn,” he said. “I do have confidence the president is very skillful at this, and he’ll find the right way to help the United States.”

Feinberg twice refused during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to answer whether Russia invaded Ukraine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also dodged that question Sunday on Fox News and said, “It’s a very complicated situation.”

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago Monday. The U.S. on Monday sided with Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Iran and other pro-Moscow countries in voting against a United Nations resolution that blamed Russia for the war and called for the return of Ukrainian territory.

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat and former Navy captain, on Tuesday called the Trump administration’s actions “disturbing” and criticized Feinberg for his response.

“Mr. Feinberg, we’ve got to live in the real world here,” Kelly said. “I mean things happen, and it’s obvious to the rest of the world, and I think it’s obvious to Europe right now that we just blew up an alliance, and for us not to be able to say an obvious fact is — it doesn’t help a negotiation.”

Other senators expressed frustration with Feinberg’s answers to questions about the Pentagon’s plans to lay off tens of thousands of civilian workers. About 5,400 probationary workers are set to be fired this week as part of an initiative to cut the 945,000-person civilian workforce by 5% to 8%.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, left, chats with Stephen Feinberg, the nominee to be the next deputy defense secretary, and his wife Gisella Sanchez on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, before Feinberg’s confirmation hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

Feinberg said he did not have details on where the cuts would be but said he believed most will be from people who “want to retire” or “would like to resign early.” Probationary employees are new hires and workers that have been recently promoted.

“I’ve spent a career in restructuring companies and dealing with these workforce issues,” Feinberg said. “Every organization goes through some turnover when you have, really, needs to improve. Initially, it’s difficult but the top people will step up and it can be ultimately improving the culture.”

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, repeatedly asked Feinberg to explain how he would implement the proposed cuts and grew irritated when Feinberg would not say whether he would use an employee’s probationary status as criteria for firings.

“I don’t understand why you can’t tell me yes or no,” King said.

If confirmed, Feinberg would serve as second-in-command at the Pentagon in a position that is traditionally tasked with managing the workforce and budget processes. Feinberg said he did not know “what role the [defense] secretary would want me to play” in the layoffs but said he would “carefully look at the cuts and balance and weigh what we need and what we don’t.”

“[We would be] careful not to cut into mission and do it in a granular, bottoms up, person-by-person, detailed way,” he said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he feared the cuts will undermine national security and disproportionately affect veterans. Nearly half of the Pentagon’s workforce is made up of former service members — the highest of all agencies, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

“Sometimes we have to make change to help an organization do better in the future,” Feinberg said, adding he would tell veterans worried about their jobs that “we’ve got to make our Department of Defense stronger.”

Blumenthal countered that the message that Feinberg was actually sending to veterans was, “We don’t need you. You’re expendable. Your life of service is meaningless, and the job you’re doing now is going to be roadkill.”

“I would simply urge you to take into account that these Department of Defense civilian employees were once wearing a uniform,” Blumenthal told Feinberg.

Republicans rallied around Feinberg and said his background would help the Pentagon better manage its finances. Feinberg’s private equity firm has invested in defense contractors, and he served on an intelligence advisory board during Trump’s first term.

“Mr. Feinberg has spent his entire career fixing things,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the committee. “I believe he will make a very fine deputy secretary of defense. Mr. Feinberg ran a highly successful large organization for three decades, making him eminently qualified to run the Pentagon effectively.”

Feinberg said he intends to use his private sector experience to set up a “war room” to help the Pentagon pass an audit, which it has failed to do for years. He said every program and cost will be combed over, line by line, “with an army of people until it’s done.”

“We’re going to understand where our costs are, why we don’t have our audit, where the financial problems are and then come up with a plan to fix it,” Feinberg said. “It’s a big war room and I think the Pentagon will support it and I think the people will be excited to see it as well.”