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US Defense Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, making him the first military chief to leave during President Donald Trump’s second term – and the latest defense chief to be fired.
No reason was given for the sudden departure of the senior Navy officer. It comes as the US imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and targeted shipping linked to Tehran around the world during a tough ceasefire in the war.
Phelan’s firing is the latest in a series of earthquakes at the Pentagon, coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired a top military official, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth has also fired several other top generals, admirals and defense chiefs since taking office last year.
The shooting began in February 2025, when Hegseth removed military leaders including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the senior uniformed officer of the Navy, and Gen. Jim Slife, second in command of the Air Force. Trump also fired General Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Underscoring how sudden the latest move was, Phelan addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry workers Tuesday at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington and spoke to reporters about his agenda. He also hosted leaders of the US House Armed Services Committee to discuss the Navy’s budget request and efforts to build more ships, according to a social media post from his office.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in the X post that Phelan is “leaving the administration, effective immediately.”
Another Trump loyalist is taking over as acting Navy chief: Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the US Senate and House in Virginia.
Phelan was a major Trump donor
Phelan had never served in the military or held a civilian leadership role in the ministry before Trump nominated him as secretary in late 2024.
He was a major donor to the Trump campaign and founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. According to his biography, Phelan’s greatest exposure to the military came from a consulting role with Spirit of America, a non-profit organization that supported the defense of Ukraine and Taiwan.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Phelan’s office for comment. The White House did not respond to questions instead responding by posting a link to Parnell’s statement.
Phelan is leaving at a busy time in the Navy. It has three aircraft carriers deployed to or from the Middle East, and the Trump administration has said all branches of the military are ready to resume operations against Iran if the ceasefire collapses.
The Navy also maintained a heavy presence in the Caribbean, where it participated in a campaign of strikes against drug boats. It also played a major role in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
A naval blockade is an act of war, but American ships would not fire on ships trying to conduct it, said Mark Norman, a retired Royal Canadian Navy vice admiral and fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The goal would be to stop them, order them to stop, perhaps using a warning shot. Boarding and capturing ships would include dropping troops by helicopter. ‘That’s getting pretty good,’ said Norman.
The new acting secretary made unsuccessful bids for Congress
Taking over as acting secretary is Cao, who ran an unsuccessful Senate bid in Virginia in 2024 in an attempt to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. He received Trump’s endorsement in a crowded Republican field and delivered a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Cao’s background includes fleeing to Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared the communist regime in Vietnam during the Cold War to the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
During his one-on-one debate with Kaine, Cao criticized the mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations for service members and the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“If you use the queen to recruit the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said during the debate. “What we need are alpha males and alpha females who will open their guts, eat them and ask for seconds. These are the young men who will win the wars.”
Iran has vowed to retaliate after the US Navy forcibly seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, ending a weekend in which both countries accused the other of violating a ceasefire.
Trump and Hegseth have attacked DEI militarily, blocking those efforts and deporting people suspected of supporting such programs.
While running for Congress in Virginia in 2022, Cao voiced opposition to aid to Ukraine during a debate against his Democratic opponent.
“My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine …. But right now we are borrowing 55 billion dollars from China to pay for the war in Ukraine. Not only that, we are destroying our national strategic areas,” Cao said.
Cao graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., before attending the US Naval Academy.
He was commissioned as a special operations officer and went on to serve with SEAL teams and special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring as a captain, according to his Senate campaign history.
Cao also received a master’s degree in physics and held fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
Since becoming secretary of the Navy, Cao has advocated for a return to work that rejected Biden’s mandate to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
