- President Trump has tapped Cao for the Navy’s top civilian post
- Cao previously served as under secretary before becoming acting secretary in April
- Cao’s nomination now heads to the Senate for confirmation
President Donald Trump has nominated Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, a 2026 Wash100 Award popular vote winner, to permanently lead the Department of the Navy.
Trump made the announcement Tuesday on Truth Social, calling the former Navy special operations officer a “true WARRIOR” and urging the Senate to quickly confirm him.
Cao responded on X, thanking the president for the nomination.
“It’s an honor of a lifetime to lead the great warriors of the Navy and Marine Corps team. I’m grateful for your leadership and support as we continue to get after shipbuilding and ensure the defense of the homeland,” he wrote.
Who Is Hung Cao?
Cao is a retired U.S. Navy captain who took on the role of acting Navy secretary in April. He was confirmed as under secretary of the Navy in October 2025.
Before returning to government, he worked in the private sector as a vice president and client executive at CACI International, where his portfolio touched electronic warfare, counter-drone technology and enterprise IT support for defense clients.
Across 25 years in the Navy, Cao held a range of leadership posts, including division chief at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and commanding officer of the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center. He also served as a special operations and explosive ordnance disposal officer, directing underwater missions and counter-improvised threat operations during deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Cao holds a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree in applied physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.
What Has Hung Cao Prioritized Since Becoming Acting Navy Secretary?
Since stepping into the role, Cao has moved quickly to shape the Navy’s modernization agenda. He identified sailor and Marine readiness, shipbuilding and homeland defense as his top priorities in his first address as acting secretary.
He has since pushed to translate that agenda into action — from signing the Navy’s data and artificial intelligence weaponization strategy to establishing a new portfolio manager office for robotic and autonomous systems. He has also drawn attention for consolidating networks and driving a faster-paced modernization approach across the department.
On the industrial base front, Cao has detailed how the fiscal year 2027 budget request supports the Golden Fleet initiative. During his keynote speech at the 2026 Navy Summit, he rallied industry around faster acquisition and shipbuilding mobilization. A closer look at the Golden Fleet provisions within that FY 2027 budget shows just how central shipbuilding investment has become to his tenure so far.
