Trump Nominates Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao for the Permanent Job

President Trump said Tuesday he's nominating acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to hold the job permanently, calling him a "true WARRIOR" on Truth Social and pushing the Senate to confirm him "ASAP."

Cao has run the Navy in an acting capacity since April, when Trump fired then-Secretary John Phelan without public explanation, according to Breaking Defense and The Guardian. Phelan had no prior military service. Cao is the opposite: 25 years in uniform, a Naval Academy graduate, a former Navy diver and explosive ordnance disposal officer who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring as a captain in 2021, according to MS NOW and The Hill.

"I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy," Trump wrote. "We need Patriots like Hung leading our Navy and Marine Corps, and I can think of no one better than him to make sure our Great Navy and Marine Corps remain the FIERCEST and BEST Force the World has ever seen."

Cao thanked Trump on X: "It's an honor of a lifetime to lead the great warriors of the Navy and Marine Corps team. I'm grateful for your leadership and support as we continue to get after shipbuilding and ensure the defense of the homeland."

A Pentagon in flux

The nomination lands amid broader turnover at the top of the military. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week amid reported tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to Breaking Defense and ABC News. That means two of the three military branch secretary positions, Army and Navy, are currently held only in an acting capacity.

Breaking Defense reports the Senate is unlikely to move quickly despite Trump's demand. Congress has only a handful of working days left before the November midterms, and it's not yet clear when the White House will formally transmit Cao's nomination to begin the confirmation process. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has already voiced support, writing on social media that he knows Cao "will work hard to support our incredible Sailors and Marines."

The USS Abraham Lincoln question

Democrats in Congress, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, are pressing the Pentagon for accountability over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has logged a record-setting uninterrupted stretch at sea during a nine-month deployment tied to the Iran war, according to The Guardian and The Independent. Both outlets cite reports of deteriorating crew mental health and shortages of food and hygiene supplies, including accounts of sailors attempting to jump from the carrier.

Extended deployments strain families and readiness. Lawmakers asking the Pentagon to show its work on crew welfare is the kind of oversight Congress is supposed to do.

But there's no evidence in these reports that Cao caused those conditions or that his nomination is a response to them. Trump has dismissed the reporting on the Lincoln outright, previously calling it "a CNN fake report" and noting carriers have deployed for comparable stretches before, according to The Hill. The Lincoln's deployment and Cao's nomination are two separate storylines that several outlets, notably The Guardian and The Independent, wove into a single narrative implying the pick is connected to sailor welfare concerns. Cao announced the Lincoln's return home as acting secretary. He didn't order the deployment length.

What Fox left out, what MS NOW emphasized

Fox News's coverage of the nomination read almost entirely as a press release, quoting Trump and Cao at length with no mention of Cao's more contentious public statements. MS NOW filled that gap, detailing a 2023 interview in which Cao told Christian activist Sean Feucht that Monterey, California, had become a "dark place" where "witchcraft and the Wiccan community" had "taken over," along with his 2024 campaign criticism of a drag performer used in Navy recruiting and his comment that the military needs "alpha males and alpha females." Cao has also pushed to reinstate service members discharged for refusing the Biden-era COVID vaccine mandate and has backed the Pentagon's rollback of diversity initiatives, positions squarely in line with the administration's broader personnel overhaul.

Whether senators raise any of that during confirmation hearings, and whether those hearings even happen before the midterms reshape the Senate's math, remains an open question. Trump's own preferred timeline, "ASAP," is running headlong into a legislative calendar that Breaking Defense says leaves little room for it.