President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Hung Cao to be the next secretary of the Navy, according to a post on Truth Social.
Cao has been the acting secretary since April 22 this year after John Phelan stepped down.
“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,” Trump said in his post.
Cao came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam in 1975. His family subsequently moved to West Africa for his father’s work as a USAID contractor, before Cao’s mother returned with the children to the United States when Cao was 12. They settled in Northern Virginia.
In 1989, Cao entered the Navy as a seaman recruit and later attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating and receiving his commission as a special operations officer in 1996. He specialized in explosive ordnance disposal and deep-sea diving during a military career that included deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
He became undersecretary of the Navy in October 2025 and assumed responsibility as acting secretary of the Navy on April 22, 2026.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.