By Todd Wood, USAFA ’86 | Armed Forces Press
Pentagon, Washington, D.C.- I sat down with Under Secretary of the Navy for a few minutes yesterday in the Pentagon Press Briefing room.
OFFICIAL BIO: The Honorable Hung Cao was sworn in as Under Secretary of the Navy on October 3, 2025. He is the Department of Navy’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Management Officer overseeing nearly one million Navy, Marine Corps and civilian personnel and an annual budget exceeding $250 billion. Fifty years after arriving in Guam as a Vietnamese refugee, Cao returns as the Department of War’s Senior Defense Official of Guam, whereby he provides oversight, advocacy, and support for on-island infrastructure development consistent with operational requirements.
My first question to the Under Secretary was on the removal of DEI and the training of Naval officers at the US Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval War College, two places where the destructive Marxist ideology has been the most injected into the Department of War.
As a USNA graduate, Cao told me he is focused on removing the threat, as he feels a personal interest in the problem as an ethnic minority himself.
“I don’t want to be accused of being a DEI hire after I worked hard to get where I am,” he commented. “So, it’s important for us to remove this problem.”
When asked about a recent hire this summer in the USNA History Department, Mark Folse, mostly known for looking at military history, specifically the USMC, through a race and gendered lens, in his book The Globe and Anchor Men: U.S. Marines and American Manhood in the Great War Era, Cao stated that the work is not done, and the service is still rooting out the ideology, although great progress has been made.
Folse still is still teaching at USNA.
Cao said he has a vested interest in creating the best naval force in the world. As a refugee from Viet Nam, he wants to see the service succeed in its mission to protect the homeland. Cao highlighted the focus on sailors, saying the Navy surpassed retention goals, which allows optimal manning. He said retention was also very good.
When asked about ship building, Cao admitted the challenges. He also mentioned the very high tempo is taking a toll on families. “75% of our F-35s are on deployments; it is destroying the force.”
He also admitted challenges in restocking armaments but was confident the challenges would be met.
“We are the most powerful navy in the word,” said Cao.
He also is personally leading the efforts to restore those persecuted during the Covid vaccine unlawful order.
We look further to more discussions with Under Secretary Cao.
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L Todd Wood, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, flew special operations helicopters supporting SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and others. After leaving the military, he pursued his other passion, finance, spending 18 years on Wall Street trading emerging market debt and was a national security columnist for The Washington Times. He is also founder/publisher of CDM. For more information about L. Todd Wood, visit LToddWood.com.
First published on Armed Forces Press
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