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Donald Trump makes crypto and defence picks for his second-term team

Trump picks billionaire Stephen Feinberg official as the No. 2 at the Pentagon and appoints Michael Kratsios to lead tech policy at the White House

Donald Trump, Trump

Trump will nominate Kratsios to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a Senate-confirmed position. Image: Bloomberg

Bloomberg

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By Gregory Korte
 
President-elect Donald Trump filled out key defense and crypto policy roles in his next administration, making billionaire Stephen Feinberg official as the No. 2 at the Pentagon and picking Michael Kratsios to lead tech policy at the White House.
 
Trump will nominate Kratsios to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a Senate-confirmed position. The managing director of Scale AI served in lower technology-related posts in the first Trump administration and has been helping to staff up the Department of Government Efficiency, the Elon Musk-driven initiative to downsize the federal government.  
 
Joining Kratsios in crypto policy roles will be Lynne Parker, Kratsios’ former deputy, who will direct the Presidential Council of Advisers for Science and Technology, or PCAST, and Bo Hines, a former North Carolina State and Yale football player and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate. Hines will direct the new Crypto Council. 
 
 
Both councils will report to David Sacks, the so-called “crypto czar” — who has said he will split his time between the White House and Silicon Valley.
 
Trump’s posts on his Truth Social platform Sunday continued a drumbeat of second-tier personnel announcements, with less than a month until his inauguration. 
 
Feinberg’s role as deputy secretary of Defense would put him in day-to-day control of the Pentagon as Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth to lead the department faces potential trouble in the Senate. 
 
Feinberg — whose net worth is about $7.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — is the co-founder and majority owner of Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm. His companies have held significant defense contracts and have invested in hypersonic missile technology with both civilian and military applications. 
 
Other Defense picks announced Sunday include Michael Duffey as the next undersecretary of acquisition and sustainment; Emil Michael as undersecretary of research and engineering; Keith Bass as assistant secretary for health affairs, and Joe Kasper as Hegseth’s chief of staff.
 
Trump also named Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to lead the Office of Personnel Management; Mauricio Claver-Carone as the State Department’s special envoy for Latin America, Callista Gingrich as ambassador to Switzerland and Stephen Vaden to be deputy secretary of Agriculture.
 

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First Published: Dec 23 2024 | 7:19 AM IST

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