Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are scrambling to fill a gaping hole in their senior military leadership.
The defense secretary, 46, has overseen the exit of top military figures on a scale not seen in modern times, with firings and walkouts galore as he reimagines the armed forces to fit his precise ideology and perception of masculinity.
There are now gaps at the top aplenty, one of which Hegseth and Trump, 80, are now scrambling to fill against the backdrop of the war in Iran: Navy secretary.
Trump has tapped Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, who has been in the role since Navy Secretary John Phelan stepped down with little explanation in April.
The acting secretary can now take on the role permanently, pending Senate approval, after Trump nominated him on Tuesday.
Cao, who ABC13 reports is in his fifties and the Navy says came to the U.S. as a Vietnamese refugee, is a former special operations officer and captain who retired in 2021 to join the Pentagon.
He ran in Virginia’s 10th congressional district in 2022 and for the Senate in 2024. Both times he had Trump’s endorsement. Both times he lost.
“I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy,” Trump said as he tapped Cao. “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. The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months.”
The nomination comes just after the high-profile departure of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who quit after a series of clashes with Hegseth.
Driscoll, a JD Vance ally, reportedly disagreed with the former Fox & Friends Weekend host over removing top leaders, with The New York Times reporting that Hegseth has now blocked the promotions of or fired 80 generals and admirals.
In his latest attack, Hegseth targeted seven officers selected by a board of senior military officials for promotion to two-star general. He has refused to explain the logic behind the firings, sowing discord in the Pentagon and in Congress, the Times reports.
When he quit, Driscoll said Hegseth had damaged the military’s morale and ability to modernize, and axed some of its most experienced combat-proven personnel.
Hegseth never hid what he envisioned for his military, nor did he shy away from the possibility of heads rolling. Speaking on The Shawn Ryan Show prior to starting the job, he said, “any general that was involved—general, admiral, whatever—that was involved in any of the DEI woke s--t has got to go.”
More than half of those affected by Hegseth’s purge are either Black or female, the Times reports, in a move that is expected to make the military’s top brass more male and more white for years to come.
As acting secretary, Cao has overseen the record-breaking deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, which spent 250 days without a port call before docking in Thailand on Wednesday.
Conditions aboard the ship were widely reported to have deteriorated, as the aircraft carrier entered the fight against Iran in February and remained until late August.
The vessel and its crew have now arrived at the notorious Thai party town of Pattaya on their way back to San Diego for what Carrier Strike Group 3 commander Rear Adm. Robert E. Loughran said was “a well-deserved opportunity for our sailors and Marines to rest and recharge.”
Phelan was reported to have clashed with Hegseth at the time of his departure over a costly new type of battleship expected to cost billions.
The former Navy secretary had pushed for the new “Trump Class” vessels during his tenure—which lasted just under a year—in a bid to win the president’s favor, Politico reported.
The news site cited two sources who said the push clashed with Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Stephen Feinberg’s desire to shift toward smaller, uncrewed, cheaper vessels.
Phelan was “not at all aligned with where Hegseth and Feinberg want to go,” one of the sources said.
On top of chaos, Trump’s expected pick for Army chief of staff, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, is reported by the Times to be short of the Senate votes needed for appointment.
