Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefly mentioned the EDU in a November 2025 memorandum<\/a> with a range of provisions that aimed to modernize the Pentagon\u2019s purchasing processes and vision. He instructed the team to work with the undersecretariat of defense for acquisition and sustainment to create a \u201cWartime Production Unit\u201d and a playbook for \u201cdeploying capital in various forms [that is] tied to pre-agreed performance metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n Feinberg\u2019s new guidance on the EDU states that it will be \u201cadministratively aligned\u201d within A&S.<\/p>\n In the memo, the deputy secretary outlines several specific mandates for the unit to accomplish, in coordination with relevant principal staff assistants and component heads.<\/p>\n He directs the EDU to develop \u201crequirements for Economic Competition activities that may include access, basing, and overflight; countering mobilization of adversaries; countering defense industrial base activities by adversaries; and ensuring access of the United States to critical materials and capabilities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The unit will support the DOD\u2019s National Defense Strategy, National Military Strategy, and National Defense Industrial Strategy, and partner with relevant stakeholders to develop a department-wide strategic plan and implementation roadmap that positions the U.S. to maximize economic leverage and advance its national interests \u201cwhile countering adversarial objectives through economic means,\u201d the directive states.<\/p>\n Feinberg also instructed the EDU to \u201csponsor and conduct regular tabletop exercises and activities to assess the economic impacts of decisions\u201d the DOD makes during crises and conflicts; evaluate economic tools available to the U.S. government that can be applied to augment the military\u2019s capabilities; and assess planning scenarios or concept development for economic competition activities that might be used by the department.<\/p>\n Officials in the new hub will advise Pentagon leadership on modern contracting and commercial approaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019ll also \u201csupport the use of economic, commercial, financial, pricing, data and analytical tools, capital and capital markets, regulatory, legal, risk-management, and other economic capabilities in furtherance of U.S. military advantage and to counter adversaries\u2019 coercive leverage,\u201d the memo notes.<\/p>\n In order to \u201cadvance a more integrated public-private approach\u201d to economic competition, Feinberg also directs personnel within EDU to work with officials in the Office of Strategic Capital, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, Strategic and Critical Materials Board of Directors, National Defense Economic Defense Research Council, and the National Security Capital Forum.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reports emerged<\/a> in March that DOD was recruiting from multiple Wall Street players<\/a> to staff \u201cinvestment teams\u201d at its new EDU. Some experts warned that that structure<\/a> could allow for the department to hire financiers involved with the private-equity community poised to possibly gain from the efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Feinberg, a billionaire, co-founded the global investment firm Cerberus Capital Management in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n The Pentagon\u2019s budget request for fiscal year 2027 included $593 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding for the EDU. Allotments were also approved in the 2026 budget to fund the unit.<\/p>\n The Pentagon declined to comment on the EDU in response to questions from DefenseScoop this week.<\/p>\n Feinberg\u2019s memo did not identify the official who will be leading the unit. However, as of Friday the agenda for this year\u2019s SOF Week conference includes an official named George Kollitides with the title of EDU director, who is slated to speak at the premier annual gathering for the international Special Operations Forces community in Florida next month.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tWritten by Brandi Vincent![\"Brandi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775889388_607_Image-from-iOS-2-e1662581202907.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tBrandi Vincent is a Senior Reporter at DefenseScoop, where she reports on disruptive technologies and associated policies impacting Pentagon and military personnel. Prior to joining SNG, she produced a documentary and worked as a journalist at Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC Network. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and received a master\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2024 Defence Media Awards.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg set up a new unit to lead all the Pentagon\u2019s work that involves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[15366,5687,15367,1579,18,1742,15368,15369],"class_list":{"0":"post-21180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pete-hegseth","8":"tag-acquisition-and-sustainment","9":"tag-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth","10":"tag-economic-defense-unit-edu","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-pete-hegseth","13":"tag-procurement","14":"tag-stephen-feinberg","15":"tag-steve-feinberg"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116384693189257611","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}