John Phelan confirmed as Navy secretary
Senators voted 62-30 to approve Phelan as the 79th secretary of the Navy
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 27: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the U.S. Navy John Phelan listens during a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. Phelan, a Florida businessman, spoke to Senators on a range of topics including improving retention rate in the U.S. Navy. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Navy is on the verge of installing new civilian leadership after the Senate today confirmed financier and Trump donor John Phelan as its new secretary.
Senators voted 62-30 to approve Phelan as the 79th secretary of the Navy. Phelan is the second of President Donald Trump’s service secretary picks to be confirmed, following Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, who was sworn into office shortly after his Feb. 25 confirmation on a similar vote total, 66-28.
A relative unknown in the tight-knit naval community, Phelan is the first Navy secretary without military experience since Donald Winter vacated the role in 2009. He was one of Trump’s first defense appointments — second only to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — with the then-president elect saying in his Nov. 27 announcement that Phelan would “put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else.”
Phelan is the co-founder and chairman of Rugger Management, a private investment firm based in Palm Beach, Fla. He donated to Trump’s campaign and hosted a fundraiser last August at his home in Aspen, Colo., The Hill has reported, and is also renowned for his contemporary art collection, according to several publications.
Despite his lack of national security experience, Phelan’s road to the Navy secretary job has been largely uncontroversial, with most questions during his Feb. 27 confirmation hearing centering around high priority shipbuilding programs, such as the Constellation-class frigate and Virginia-class submarine, as well parochial issues important to individual lawmakers’ respective states.
“You’re a nontraditional nominee, but you’re nominated in a position where the tradition doesn’t seem to be working,” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, said during the hearing. “That makes me intrigued about what you might do differently.”
During his opening statement, Phelan said one of his top three priorities would include a focus on shipbuilding acquisition programs and strengthening the industrial base, going as far to say that a “day one” priority would be evaluating every contract and potentially even reworking deals where there was the flexibility to do so.
“The president has been very consistent when he spoke with me: Shipbuilding, shipbuilding shipbuilding,” he told the committee, adding later in the hearing that Trump had texted him a photo of three rusty ships at 1:18 am, asking, “What are you doing about this?”
“I think what is missing, from what I can see, is a sense of urgency,” Phelan said. “It’s almost as if you’re waiting for a crisis to happen to ignite things.”
Hours after Phelan’s confirmation hearing ended, Trump announced he was nominating Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain, to be the service’s No. 2 civilian. Cao is still awaiting his hearing in front of the SASC.
With two service secretaries in place, all eyes now turn to Troy Meink, the Air Force nominee, who is scheduled to have his hearing in front of the SASC later this week.
