President Donald Trump Nominates Retired Veteran Hung Cao To Lead United States Navy

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he plans to formally nominate Hung Cao to become the next United States Secretary of the Navy, seeking to fill the position on a permanent basis after Cao had served in an acting capacity since April. Announcing the decision on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy," adding that the country needed patriots like Cao leading the Navy and Marine Corps. He urged the Senate to confirm "this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months."

Cao, a Vietnamese refugee who immigrated to the United States as a child, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 and went on to serve 25 years as a commissioned Navy officer, including extensive service in special operations with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He retired from active duty at the rank of captain in 2021. Cao was later confirmed by the Senate as Under Secretary of the Navy in a 52-45 vote last October, and became acting secretary in April after Trump removed then-Navy Secretary John Phelan, a businessman and Trump campaign fundraiser, from the post following reported tensions between Phelan and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The nomination comes amid broader turbulence in the upper ranks of the U.S. military leadership. It follows by just one day Trump's acceptance of the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, whose departure has similarly been linked to reported friction with Hegseth. Cao's tenure as acting Navy secretary has also drawn scrutiny over the past year, including after a Blue Angels fighter jet flew low over crowds in Pensacola, Florida, in July, an incident that some aviation experts characterized as dangerous and that prompted calls for disciplinary action against the pilot involved. Cao rejected those calls at the time, posting on social media that no reprimands or firings were warranted.

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Cao's nomination also arrives at a moment when the Navy's operational tempo has drawn criticism from some lawmakers, including Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who have pressed for greater accountability over conditions facing sailors during an extended deployment. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier's nine-month deployment in support of the ongoing conflict with Iran has included a record-setting stretch of continuous time at sea, and has been accompanied by reports of deteriorating morale among the crew and shortages of basic supplies, including food and hygiene products.

Before his appointment to Navy leadership, Cao was a relatively unknown figure in national politics, having mounted an unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. House seat in Northern Virginia in 2022, where he unexpectedly won the Republican primary against better-funded rivals before losing the general election. He later ran for the U.S. Senate in Virginia in 2024 with backing from Trump and other prominent Republican figures, though he was defeated in that race as well. In response to his nomination, Cao wrote on social media that it was "the honor of a lifetime" to lead the Navy and Marine Corps. His formal nomination will now require confirmation by the full U.S. Senate before he can assume the role on a permanent basis.

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