Trump Nominates Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to Permanent Post

Today’s Focus

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night on Truth Social that he will nominate acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to lead the department permanently, calling him a “true WARRIOR” and urging the Senate to confirm him quickly, according to Fox News and The Hill.

Cao has served as acting secretary since late April, when John Phelan departed the post unexpectedly and without a public explanation, The Guardian reported. Phelan was a financier with no prior military or Pentagon experience.

Cao spent 25 years in the Navy as a special operations officer, deploying with SEAL teams and special forces units in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to The Guardian. He served as Navy undersecretary before stepping into the acting secretary role.

A naturalized U.S. citizen who fled Vietnam as a child, Cao ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in Virginia in 2022 and for U.S. Senate in 2024. Trump backed both campaigns.

“I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy,” Trump wrote, per Fox News. “The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP.”

Cao responded on social media that leading “the great warriors of the Navy and Marine Corps team” would be the “honor of a lifetime,” The Guardian reported.

The nomination arrives as the Navy faces questions about strain on the force. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed roughly nine months supporting operations against Iran, setting a record for uninterrupted time at sea, according to The Guardian.

Reports of deteriorating crew mental health and shortages of food and hygiene supplies aboard the carrier have prompted Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) to press the Pentagon for accountability.

The Debate

Supporters argue

The White House and Senate Republicans frame Cao as uniquely qualified to run a service under wartime pressure. Trump, writing on Truth Social, called him a “Patriot” and argued no one is better suited “to make sure our Great Navy and Marine Corps remain the FIERCEST and BEST Force the World has ever seen,” according to Fox News.

Backers point to his 25-year uniformed career, including combat deployments with SEAL teams, as a sharp contrast to Phelan, a financier with no military background, The Guardian noted. Fox News reported that Cao has already spent four months overseeing the department’s push to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity.

Republican allies argue continuity matters. Because Cao has been running the department day to day, they contend, a swift confirmation would avoid another leadership vacuum while the Navy sustains carrier operations tied to the Iran war.

Cao’s supporters also highlight his effort to reinstate service members who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, a priority for the Trump administration, according to The Guardian.

Critics argue

Democrats and some independent observers describe Cao primarily as a political loyalist rather than a technocratic pick. The Guardian characterized the nomination as Trump elevating a “loyalist” whose two prior campaigns he endorsed.

Senate Democrats want scrutiny of conditions inside the fleet before confirmation moves forward. Blumenthal and Gallego are already pressing the Pentagon over reports of mental-health strain, food shortages, and supply gaps aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its record deployment, according to The Guardian.

Critics also note the unresolved question of why Phelan left. His April departure came “unexpectedly and without explanation,” The Guardian reported, and Trump publicly praised him even as tensions with Pentagon leadership surfaced, per Fox News.

Some Democrats argue Cao’s political résumé, two losing Republican campaigns in Virginia, means he will struggle to push back on White House directives when operational readiness is at stake. They intend to press him at confirmation hearings on carrier deployments, shipbuilding delays, and recruiting.

What the experts say

Independent naval analysts have flagged strain on the fleet for years, well before the Iran war. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in a January 2024 report that the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan would cost about $40 billion per year in constant dollars, roughly one-third more than the service has averaged over the past five years.

The Government Accountability Office has repeatedly found that extended deployments correlate with maintenance backlogs and readiness declines. A 2021 GAO review of surface-ship crews concluded that sailors were routinely working more than 100 hours per week at sea, contributing to fatigue and safety risks.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former special assistant to the chief of naval operations, has argued in public commentary that the U.S. industrial base cannot currently sustain both the current operational tempo and the administration’s shipbuilding goals without significant new investment.

The Navy has also missed recruiting targets in recent years. According to Defense Department data cited by the Congressional Research Service, the Navy fell about 7,400 sailors short of its fiscal 2023 recruiting goal, its largest shortfall in decades, though it met its adjusted goal in 2024.

By the Numbers

25: years Cao served in the U.S. Navy as a special operations officer, per The Guardian.
4: months Cao has served as acting Navy secretary before Tuesday’s nomination, per Fox News.
9: approximate months the USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed supporting the Iran war, a record for uninterrupted time at sea, per The Guardian.
2: unsuccessful federal campaigns Cao ran in Virginia, for U.S. House in 2022 and U.S. Senate in 2024, per The Guardian.
$40 billion: estimated annual cost of the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan, according to a January 2024 Congressional Budget Office report.
7,400: number of sailors the Navy fell short of its fiscal 2023 recruiting goal, per Congressional Research Service data.
2: Senate Democrats, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, publicly demanding Pentagon accountability over conditions aboard the Lincoln, per The Guardian.