The Vietnamese refugee, Navy veteran and former Virginia political candidate has been leading the service on an acting basis.
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President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would nominate acting Navy secretary Hung Cao to the permanent position.
“The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Cao, a Vietnamese refugee and former commissioned Navy officer, was confirmed by the Senate as the Navy’s undersecretary last October. He became acting secretary in April after then-secretary John Phelan was ousted after clashing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump administration officials also grew frustrated with Phelan, a billionaire art collector and fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign, for not making more progress on turning around the U.S. shipbuilding industry and other administration priorities, The Washington Post previously reported.
Hegseth has battled with a number of top military officials who were ultimately ousted or chose to resign, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who resigned this week. But Hegseth and Cao have been more aligned, The Post previously reported.
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Cao’s tenure as acting Navy secretary drew national attention in July after a Blue Angels fighter jet flew low over crowds in Pensacola, Florida, in an incident that followed other viral flyovers by military craft. Some experts said the flight was dangerous and called for disciplining the pilot. Cao, however, said no discipline was needed.
“No reprimands. No firings. No problem,” he posted on X. “That’s the sound of Freedom!”
Cao, who served 25 years as a commissioned Navy officer, was a political unknown before he mounted a bid for a House seat in Northern Virginia in 2022, surprising better-funded candidates in the GOP primary and becoming the party’s nominee. He lost that race and mounted a bid for the Senate two years later, drawing support from Trump and other national figures.
“He’s a great hero, great military hero,” Trump said at a rally in Virginia in November 2024.
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