Three informed sources revealed to Reuters that the White House is considering the names of potential candidates to succeed Steve Feinberg, US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, indicating the possibility of further changes at the leadership level within the Pentagon, which is already facing a high rate of employee departures.
Two of the sources stated that these efforts began in June and included talks with senior lawmakers in the Senate regarding whether the US administration’s nominees would receive sufficient support to confirm their appointments, while one of the sources stated that the review continued until late August.
Reuters was unable to determine when the White House would begin considering the candidates.
The three sources said that no decision has yet been made to remove Feinberg from his position. The sources did not mention the reasons that prompted the White House to study the names of potential candidates, nor did they specify the names of the candidates under study.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “These anonymous sources do not know what they are talking about.”
She added: “President Trump appreciates the work of Secretary Hegseth, Deputy Secretary Feinberg, and the entire War Department personnel, whose record of successes in Operations Epic of Rage, Absolute Resolve, and Midnight Hammer speaks for itself,” referring to US military operations in Iran and Venezuela.
The Pentagon denied that there was an ongoing process to replace Feinberg. In response to a request from Reuters for comment, Hegseth said in a statement that Feinberg had his full support and that he was “not going anywhere.” The Pentagon did not provide a comment from Feinberg and refused to allow him an interview.
Feinberg's departure would be the most prominent change in the ministry's staff, which has already witnessed the departure of senior leaders during the Hegseth era. An informed source said that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to the White House after months of tense relations with Hegseth.
The army refused to comment on the reasons for his departure. Navy Secretary John Phelan and a number of senior army leaders also left during the past few months.
Feinberg had pledged to accelerate the production of American munitions, but analysts said that he had not achieved this goal yet and that the American industrial base could not increase production quickly.
Some defense sector executives say that his task was complicated by Congress's slowness in allocating funds despite great pressure from the US administration.
Hegseth said in his statement to Reuters: “(Feinberg) is working tirelessly to rebuild our defense industrial base and ensure that our military has everything it needs to achieve victory, and I look forward to continuing to work with him.”
He added, "He is doing an amazing job for President Trump, for the department, and for our fighters."
Frustration due to the Iran war
Trump has increasingly expressed frustration with the lack of progress in the six-month-old Iran war, which has turned into a costly confrontation between the United States and Iran.
One of the costs of this war is the decline in US weapons stocks. Reuters reported that the US Army is facing a major shortage of some ammunition, which has raised concerns in Congress and military leaders.
But Trump downplayed these fears, saying that the United States possesses “far more ammunition than any other country in the world.”
However, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth blamed Feinberg for shrinking stockpiles of long-range guided missiles and air defense interceptors during a discussion with Trump at Camp David earlier this month.
The White House described the report as “fake news.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement: “Secretary Hegseth did not mislead anyone about the status of our munitions, nor did he place the blame on Deputy Secretary Feinberg.”
Since his appointment by Trump last year, Feinberg has tried to reshape the Pentagon by increasing the US military's direct investments in companies, and providing loans to defense contractors through multiple offices within the department, including the Strategic Capital Office and the newly established Defense Economic Unit.
The United States announced on Friday that, since the beginning of 2026, it has shot down more than 300 drones launched by drug gangs along the Mexican border.
The US Army's Northern Command, US Northcom, which covers the United States and neighboring countries, linked these drones to drug trafficking, without naming a specific gang.
The command stated that it shot down 100 drones in the month of August alone, but did not clarify which side of the border they were shot down on.
The US military reported that these aircraft were used by criminal organizations “to support illegal cross-border activities, including smuggling operations and surveillance of law enforcement officers and soldiers.”
For his part, Mexican Defense Minister Ricardo Trivea claimed that these aircraft were mainly used by migrant smugglers to monitor locations along the border “devoid of any presence of authorities.”
However, drones have also been used in attacks launched by gangs against other rival gangs or against the authorities.
In October of last year, the public prosecutor's office in the Mexican city of Tijuana, near the US border, was attacked by a drone loaded with explosives. The attack caused material damage, but did not result in any human casualties.
