As undersecretary of the Navy, Hong Cao, a retired Navy captain and former Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, was supposed to have a broad portfolio as the service’s No. 2 civilian, including personnel issues and safeguarding the Navy’s “war fighter ethos.”
But in reality, Kao was often pushed out of decision-making by his own authority, Navy Secretary John Phelan, a source familiar with the situation told CNN, adding that Phelan put Kao “in a box.”
Kao was isolated from Navy decision-making and was not allowed to represent Phelan at official meetings where Phelan was not present, which would be done by a specific undersecretary, the source said.
That all changed this week when President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly removed Pahlan as Navy secretary. Kao is currently employed on an acting basis. He learned of his promotion from the Pentagon front office, which called him and said, “Well, you’re it — we’ve made a change,” according to the source.
“He’s coming up to speed quickly on all the things he wasn’t allowed to be involved in,” the source added.
A decorated special operations officer, Kao took over as the Navy’s top civilian at a time when the service is playing a critical role in preventing Iranian ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Virginia Democratic Sen. As the 2024 Republican candidate against Tim Kaine, Cao supported Trump and Hegseth’s attacks on social issues and opposition to diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives.
Cao immigrated to the United States as a child after his family fled Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
After retiring from the Navy in 2021, he ran for Congress as a Republican in 2022 and challenged Kaine in 2024, where he tended to make controversial statements.
“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the kind of person we want,” Cao said in a 2024 debate with Kane in response to a question about military recruiting. “What we need are alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip their own guts out, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women who are going to win the war.”
Acting Secretary of the Navy and former Deputy Secretary of the Navy Hong Cao attends a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC on Friday. – Annabelle Gordon/AFP/Getty Images
In a statement following his appointment as acting secretary, Cao said he would focus on advancing the Navy’s shipbuilding priorities — the issue that contributed to Phelan’s firing.
“I am fully committed to fulfilling the Department of the Navy’s core mission as a major warfighting organization and providing unwavering support to our warfighters downrange,” Cao said.
Phelan, a businessman and friend of Trump who raised funds for his campaign, was removed as Navy secretary after months of tensions with Hegseth. Hegseth believed Phelan was moving too slowly to implement shipbuilding reforms and was also concerned about Phelan’s direct communications with Trump, which Hegseth saw as an attempt to bypass him, CNN previously reported.
It is unclear whether Kao will be nominated to take over as Navy secretary permanently.
In a statement to CNN, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Kao “brings battle-tested leadership to the highest office of the Navy” and that he “embodies the relentless grit and America First vision necessary to maintain America’s maritime superiority.”
After immigrating to the U.S. in 1975, Cao and his family then moved to West Africa, where his father served as a USAID agricultural specialist, according to his Navy biography. Cao returned to Virginia when he was 12 years old.
He then joined the Navy in 1989 and became an officer after graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1996. In a career spanning more than three decades, Cao served as a Navy diver and explosive ordnance disposal officer. His deployments included Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He also worked at the Pentagon working on budgets and acquisitions.
Both Cao and Hegseth knew each other before joining the Trump administration, and Cao accompanied Hegseth on a trip to Vietnam in November.
At a 2024 rally in Virginia just days before the November election, Trump praised the Virginia Senate candidate and invited her to join him on stage.
“We’re happy to be joined by a wonderful guy, and a name that I really believe will win for the Senate — Hong Cao,” Trump said. Trump won the White House but lost Virginia, and Kaine beat Cao 54% to 45% in the Senate race.
During his Senate run, Kao often criticized the DEI policies of the Biden administration, blaming them for the military’s recruitment issues.
“This administration has a growing obsession with DEI. It’s no wonder our country has a military recruitment problem and it will continue under Harris/Walz,” Kao wrote on X in September 2024.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Virginia Hong Kao at Truong Tien Restaurant at the Eden Center on August 26, 2024 in Falls Church, Virginia. – Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Cao was confirmed as Under Secretary of the Navy on October 1. All Democrats voted against Kao’s nomination and all Republicans supported him, except for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who abstained.
That same month, Phelan’s chief of staff was fired by Hegseth for trying to undermine the office of the Navy undersecretary before Cao took the job, Politico reported last fall.
As undersecretary, Cao was tapped to be the senior defense official for Guam, where Cao’s family first came decades earlier as Vietnamese refugees. He also led recruiting and personnel policy for the Navy, including implementing Trump’s executive order to reinstate service members discharged from the military in 2021 on its Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
In January, Cao wrote a letter apologizing to sailors who had been discharged from the military as a result of the mandate.
“To the sailors and Marines who were wrongfully discharged during Covid, we failed you. We will never let this happen again. Not in my view,” Cao said in a video where he signed an apology. “You are warriors of sanity, and we need people like you on the force.”
A source familiar with the situation said Kao told Pentagon officials he would not try to go around Trump or Hegseth. “He is going to give his feedback inside the building,” the source said, “and he will loyally support whatever the president decides.”
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