President Trump has nominated acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to assume the role permanently. Cao is a naval combat veteran who’s led efforts to reinstate military members discharged for refusing a COVID vaccine mandate. He’s a close ally of President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. During the 2024 Virginia Senate debates, Cao made headlines for these comments.

Hung Cao: “When you’re using a, you know, drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want. Look, what we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds.”

Cao has led the Navy in an acting capacity since April, when President Trump fired Navy Secretary John Phelan. His nomination comes days after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned, following reports he’d repeatedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Pentagon’s removal of seasoned commanders and refusal to promote women and people of color.

On Wednesday, North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis praised Driscoll’s tenure and called on President Trump to remove Hegseth. Tillis wrote, “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force.” Tillis is not seeking reelection in November. Also joining the call for Hegseth to step down is Republican Nebraska congressmember and retired Air Force Brigadier General Don Bacon, among a number of other Republicans.