
Hung Cao escaped Vietnam after the fall of Saigon as a child refugee. He spent the next three decades as a Navy diver and explosive ordnance disposal officer, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia before retiring as a Captain in 2021.
Now President Trump wants him to run the entire United States Navy.
Trump announced the nomination on September 1, "I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy," Trump wrote. "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."
Cao has effectively been doing the job already. He's served as acting Navy Secretary since April 22, stepping in after former Secretary John Phelan's departure. The Senate confirmed him as Under Secretary of the Navy back in October 2025 on a 52-45 vote — mostly along party lines, because apparently a Vietnamese refugee combat veteran with 30-plus years of service is a controversial pick if you have a D next to your name.
Trump's statement pushed for a fast confirmation: "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's path to the Pentagon ran through Virginia politics first. He challenged Democrat Rep. Jennifer Wexton in Virginia's 10th Congressional District in 2022, then took on Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He lost both races, but the campaigns established him as a serious figure in national security circles — a combat veteran who could articulate defense policy without reading it off a briefing card.
The contrast with what came before doesn't need much embellishment. The Biden-era Pentagon spent its energy on DEI initiatives, pronoun guidance, and drag shows on military installations while recruiting numbers cratered and readiness reports gathered dust. Cao's résumé reads like a rebuke of that entire era — not because he wrote position papers against it, but because he spent 30 years doing the actual job the military exists to do.
The left is going to have a fascinating time opposing this one. Their usual playbook — painting Trump nominees as privileged, out-of-touch, or lacking credentials — runs headfirst into a man who arrived in this country as a refugee from a communist regime, enlisted, and spent three decades in some of the most dangerous specialties the Navy offers. EOD officers don't get participation trophies. They get deployed to where the bombs are.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth has been reshaping the Pentagon's priorities since taking office, and Cao slots into that effort naturally. A combat veteran running the Navy instead of a political appointee who thinks "forward-deployed" is a marketing term.
Cao's 52-45 confirmation vote for the Under Secretary role tells you everything about where the Senate stands. The math for full Secretary should be similar — tight, partisan, and ultimately successful, assuming no Republican defections.
A kid who fled Saigon. A captain who retired after 30 years of service. A man who defused bombs in three combat zones. That's the guy the Senate has to vote on now.


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