Trump taps former Navy diver Hung Cao for service’s No. 2 civilian job
A retired Navy captain, Cao unsuccessfully ran for elected office in Virginia in 2022 and 2024.
Then-US Senate candidate Hung Cao speaks during a campaign rally on November 2, 2024. Cao has been tapped to be the Navy’s number two civilian by President Donald Trump. (Photo by ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced late Thursday night that he would nominate Hung Cao, a former Navy diver and immigrant from Vietnam, to be the next under secretary of the Navy.
“I am pleased to announce that Hung Cao will be our next United States Under Secretary of the Navy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Hung is the embodiment of the American Dream. As a refugee to our Great Nation, Hung worked tirelessly to make proud the Country that gave his family a home.”
Cao previously deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia as well as serving in positions at the Pentagon, Homeland Security and the FBI. In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran for a Virginia’s 10th congressional seat — losing to Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton — and unsuccessfully challenged Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024.
Trump’s first under secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, served as the Navy’s No. 2 civilian from December 2017 through November 2019 and then as acting SECNAV until April 2020.
Cao’s nomination came hours after John Phelan, Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary, was on Capitol Hill for his own confirmation hearing. Phelan’s hearing largely lacked any fireworks with most senators — Democrats included — focusing on the standard array of Navy topics, from improving the Navy’s shipbuilding record to addressing the Pentagon’s dwindling munitions stockpile.
“I think what is missing from what I can see is a sense of urgency,” Phelan said of the Navy’s shipbuilding record. “We’re just going along and everybody — it’s Kumbaya. It’s almost as if you’re waiting for a crisis to happen to ignite things. And I think in the business of warfare, that’s a dangerous place to be. So I think why the president selected me is I will bring a sense of urgency to this. I will bring a sense of accountability to this.”
