Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain and special operations veteran, has led the Department of the Navy for four months as President Trump now seeks Senate confirmation.
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Trump names ‘true warrior’ Navy secretary as Army officers removed from promotion list
The brass gets shuffled like cards. Trump taps a ‘true warrior’ as Navy secretary, a four-month acting leader finally landing the title, while six Army officers are quietly removed from the promotion list. In the press, one group is celebrated, medals and all, the other quietly written out of the story. For the military, the lesson is clear: the reward isn’t for the uniform, it’s for the headline. The Navy gets a public anointing, the Army gets a silent subtraction. The stakes are about which branch gets to keep its stars and which gets to lose them, and the only metric is who shows up in the right press release at the right time. The rest, as always, is classified.
“One side gets a medal, the other gets the boot. If you’re in uniform, the reward depends on which press release you star in.”
“The President appoints leaders based on merit, and sometimes promotions have to be reconsidered for the good of the service. It’s not favoritism, it’s—actually, did I say reconsidered? I meant reviewed. Or maybe I didn’t. I think I did.”
The receipts
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spiked the names of at least six Army officers from a list for promotions to two-star generals, a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Hill Tuesday. The removals come just days after the Pentagon chief blocked promotions of four Army officers selected to ascend to…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.