WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, that he is formally nominating acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao for the permanent job, calling him a “true WARRIOR” and urging the Senate to confirm him “ASAP.”

In a Truth Social post quoted by ABC News, Fox News, Breaking Defense, and DefenseScoop, Trump wrote: “I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy. 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.” He added that the Senate “needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months.”

Cao has been acting secretary for about four months, since John C. Phelan left the job in April. He previously served as Under Secretary of the Navy after a Senate confirmation in October 2025. The Navy secretary is the service’s top civilian official and, with the Chief of Naval Operations, is responsible for training and equipping the Navy and Marine Corps — not for running combat operations.

The announcement landed one day after Trump accepted Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s resignation, leaving two of the three military-secretary posts on an acting footing until Cao is confirmed. Breaking Defense noted that the White House has not yet transferred a formal nomination package to the Senate, and that Congress has few working days left before the November midterms — so confirmation “ASAP” is far from guaranteed.

Cao is a retired Navy captain and Naval Academy graduate whose career included special-operations, diving, and explosive-ordnance work with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for Virginia’s 10th congressional district in 2022 and for U.S. Senate against Tim Kaine in 2024 before joining the administration.

DefenseScoop reported that as acting secretary Cao has emphasized shipbuilding, modernization, and industrial-base work, including a new Office of the Defense Industrial Base and a data/AI strategy. Whether the Senate Armed Services Committee schedules a hearing — and whether a vote lands before the midterms — remains open.

Sources