By Mallory Shelbourne | USNI News
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed retired special operations veteran Hung Cao to serve as the Department of the Navy’s number two civilian.
The upper chamber confirmed Cao to serve as the Under Secretary of the Navy in a 52 to 45 vote along party lines.
Cao graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 and served as an explosive ordnance disposal and diving officer. He retired from the Navy as a captain.
He ran for both the House and Senate in Virginia as a Republican, but ultimately lost to his Democratic opponents.
During his Senate campaign in 2024, Cao criticized the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies implemented under the Biden administration and blamed DEI for the military’s recruitment challenges. The Trump administration has since eliminated DEI policies across the Pentagon.
President Donald Trump announced Cao’s nomination at the end of February. Cao appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his nomination hearing at the end of June along with several other Defense Department nominees.
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