The Wartime Secretary of the Navy

What (Acting) Secretary Hung Cao’s First Five Months Tell Us About the Job Ahead

By Bruce Kimbrell (Policy Op-Ed)

President Trump has nominated the Honorable Hung Cao to become the 80th Secretary of the Navy, a nomination formally transmitted to the Senate on September 14.

Unlike most nominees, Cao comes before the Senate with something more revealing than a résumé or a set of promises about how he intends to lead.

He has already been doing the job.

Cao became Acting Secretary on April 22, while U.S. forces were conducting combat operations against Iran in