US Governance — 2026-05-10

Hegseth Creates Deal Team Six to Cut Pentagon Acquisition Bureaucracy

Deal Team Six stood up in early April inside the Pentagon's Economic Defense Unit, following a November 2025 Hegseth memorandum, and was publicly announced on May 8 via a Hegseth social media video. Defense News and Military Times, citing the Wall Street Journal, identify George Kollitides, former head of defense at Cerberus Capital Management, as the unit's director. Hegseth stated in the video that contractors will absorb factory expansion costs in exchange for long-term government orders at flat prices, warning that non-compliant companies will be replaced. The fiscal year 2026 NDAA allocated more than $266 million to the unit; Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request allocates over $593 million in the same funding category.

Analysis
The funding trajectory, from $266 million in FY2026 to $593 million requested in FY2027, signals the administration treats Deal Team Six as a permanent structural change, not a reform pilot. The flat-price model forces contractors to absorb expansion costs previously passed to the government under cost-plus structures, reversing the incentive logic behind decades of cost growth. Kollitides's private equity background at Cerberus, per defense trade outlets, suggests volume-for-margin structuring logic distinct from how career acquisition officials operate. Contractors large enough to front those costs may simply embed the capital risk into negotiated rates, leaving total expenditure unchanged. The unit is likely to announce at least one reform or contract acceleration by early July.

3 sources

Hegseth aims to cut through the bureaucracy with Deal Team Six - Defense News
Hegseth aims to cut through the bureaucracy with 'Deal Team Six' - Military Times
Deal Team Six: The Pentagon Goes Full Wall Street - Pirate Wires