Trump Nominates Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to the Post Permanently
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The Facts
- Trump announced on Truth Social on Tuesday that he will nominate Hung Cao as secretary of the Navy.
- Cao has been acting Navy secretary since April, when Navy Secretary John Phelan left the job.
- Cao served 25 years in the Navy as a special operations officer, including deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Cao ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a Virginia House seat in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2024.
- Trump urged the Senate to confirm Cao quickly, calling him a "true WARRIOR" in his post.
- Cao responded on social media that it would be the "honor of a lifetime" to lead the Navy and Marine Corps.
- The nomination comes as lawmakers and news reports raise concerns that sailors have been strained during the Iran war.
- Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned on Monday, one of several senior departures under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- The nomination requires Senate confirmation, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.
Context
Why did the previous Navy secretary, John Phelan, leave?
Accounts differ. The Pentagon announced Phelan's departure in April without giving a reason, and wire coverage describes it as unexpected and unexplained Arab News,U.S. News & World R…. Bloomberg reported he was fired after run-ins with top leadership NDTV Profit, the Wall Street Journal reported Hegseth pushed him out WSJ, and Politico reported friction over an expensive new battleship program he championed POLITICO.
What is the state of Navy operations he would inherit?
The U.S. has been at war with Iran for roughly six months, and coverage cites concerns about the effect on personnel and readiness POLITICO,Bloomberg Business. The New York Times reported dire conditions aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed more than nine months, much of it supporting the Iran campaign NYT. Iran launched new missile and drone attacks on U.S. positions and allies in the region Washington Post.
Who is Hung Cao?
Cao is a retired Navy captain who came to the United States as a Vietnamese refugee in 1975 Arab News,Daily Beast. He retired in 2021 and became under secretary of the Navy, the department's second-ranking civilian post, in October 2025 before moving up to acting secretary Hindustan Times,NewsMax,Daily Beast. CNN noted he has said the military needs "alpha males and alpha females" CNN International.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both reject a fast confirmation vote: Cao should not be waved through while sailors are strained by the Iran war and senior leaders keep departing.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- Both want the Senate to slow down: one to spare sailors further deployment into an unfinished war, the other to force Cao to define where the war ends.
- Why they won’t converge
- The divide is over what advice and consent is for — a values dispute about the Senate's role that agreed facts cannot settle, since one side treats a confirmation vote as a referendum on the war's cost to sailors and the other as leverage to extract terms.
How left and right read it
Sailors are being worn down by the Iran war, and that cost — not a résumé — is what a confirmation vote should turn on. Trump wants the Senate to move fast on a man he calls a true warrior, yet speed is exactly what serves an unfinished war and a Pentagon shedding senior leaders, including the Army secretary who resigned Monday. Confirm no one who will keep sailors deployed into it.
“The announcement came amid a purge of leadership at the Pentagon and a stalling war effort against Iran.” — The New York Times
Confirmation is not a rubber stamp. Advice and consent is the Senate's one real lever, so voting fast on a man Trump calls a true warrior — while lawmakers warn that sailors are strained by the Iran war and senior leaders keep departing, the Army secretary Monday — spends that lever on continuity. Cao, who fled a collapsed pro-American regime, should have to say where this war ends.
“Mr. Cao, a retired Navy captain, came to the U.S. as a refugee from South Vietnam as the pro-American regime there collapsed in 1975.” — Washington Times
The receipts — all 66 sources
Wire services (2)
Independent coverage (50)
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