Navy chief is leaving, in latest departure of a defense

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon introduced Wednesday that the Navy’s high civilian official, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, is leaving his job.

In an announcement posted to social media, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated Phelan was “departing the administration, efficient instantly.”

Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will grow to be performing secretary of the Navy, Parnell stated.

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The sudden departure comes only a day after Phelan addressed a big crowd of sailors and trade professionals on the Navy’s annual convention in Washington, D.C., and spoke with reporters about his agenda.

Phelan’s departure additionally comes simply weeks after Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Military’s high officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth additionally has fired a number of high generals, admirals and different protection leaders since taking workplace final yr. As with lots of these different firings, Pentagon officers didn’t provide a motive for Phelan’s departure.

Phelan is leaving simply because the U.S. Navy has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is focusing on ships linked to Tehran world wide throughout a tenuous ceasefire within the Iran conflict.

Phelan had not served within the navy or had a civilian management position within the service earlier than President Donald Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024.

Phelan was a serious donor to Trump’s marketing campaign and based the non-public funding agency Rugger Administration LLC. In accordance with his biography, Phelan’s main publicity to the navy got here from an advisory place he held on the Spirit of America, a non-profit that supported the protection of Ukraine and the protection of Taiwan.

The Related Press couldn’t instantly attain Phelan’s workplace for remark.

Cao ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to attempt to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump’s endorsement within the crowded Republican main.

Cao is a 25-year Navy veteran who served in fight zones. His biography consists of fleeing Vietnam along with his household as a baby within the Nineteen Seventies. In a marketing campaign video for his Senate bid, he in contrast Vietnam’s communist regime through the Chilly Struggle to the administration of President Joe Biden.

“We’re shedding our nation,” Cao stated in video through the marketing campaign, which blamed Biden for the prison circumstances in opposition to Trump and confirmed footage of border crossings and retailer lootings. “ it. However you additionally know you could’t say it. We’re compelled to say that improper is true. We’re compelled to lie.”