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From Saigon Refugee to the Pentagon

Meet America’s New Acting Navy Chief: Hung Cao | FEATURE

It is a powerful trajectory to go from a four-year-old refugee fleeing Saigon to the civilian head of the world's most powerful Navy. Hung Cao’s story is a textbook example of how the "American Dream" can manifest through military service and a strict "duty-first" philosophy.

Hung Cao

In the span of one dramatic day, the U.S. Navy’s top civilian leadership changed hands. Yesterday, Secretary John C. Phelan departed the Trump administration effective immediately. Stepping into the role as Acting Secretary of the Navy is Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain, combat veteran, and former Vietnamese refugee whose life story reads like a quintessential American comeback.

At 54, Cao now oversees the Department of the Navy: nearly one million sailors, Marines, and civilians, plus a budget topping $250 billion. As the chief operating and management officer since his confirmation as Under Secretary in October 2025, he already knew the inner workings of the massive enterprise. Now he leads it during a period of heightened global tensions, including naval operations tied to the Strait of Hormuz and broader Middle East challenges.

A Journey Born in Turmoil

Hung Cao was born on August 3, 1971, in Saigon, South Vietnam. Just four years later, as communist forces overran the city in 1975, his family joined the frantic exodus of refugees. They were processed through Guam before reaching American shores, arriving with almost nothing.

His father, Quan Cao, had served in South Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and later worked as a USAID agricultural specialist in Niger, West Africa. The family spent several years there before returning to the United States when Hung was about 12. They settled in Northern Virginia, where young Hung learned English, embraced his new home, and excelled academically. He graduated with the very first class of the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, a launchpad that helped shape his disciplined, high-achieving path.

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Cao has often shared the raw reality of that beginning: “We came to this country with NOTHING. We asked nothing from this country.” His message to fellow immigrants is direct and unapologetic, drawn from personal experience:

“Don’t come to this country and ask for the American DREAM if you’re not willing to obey the American LAWS and embrace the American CULTURE!”

It’s a philosophy rooted in gratitude, self-reliance, and full assimilation — themes that have defined his public voice.

From Seaman Recruit to Special Operations Leader

In 1989, Cao enlisted in the Navy as a seaman recruit. He went on to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1996 with a degree in ocean engineering. He later earned a master’s in applied physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2008.

His 30+ year career was anything but ordinary. Specializing in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and deep-sea diving, he became a qualified Navy Special Operations, Diving, and Salvage Officer, as well as a Naval Parachutist and Surface Warfare Officer.

Highlights include:

  • Leading the Navy dive team aboard the USNS Grasp that recovered the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister Lauren after their 1999 plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard.
  • Combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, often in high-risk counter-improvised explosive device and special warfare roles.
  • Command of the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida.
  • Pentagon assignments balancing the Navy’s massive budget, coordinating with Homeland Security, and supporting the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He retired as a captain in 2021, decorated for operational excellence in some of the most dangerous environments the Navy offers.

Political Path and Return to Service

After hanging up his uniform, Cao turned to politics as a Republican in his adopted home of Virginia. He ran for the U.S. House in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2024 (with President Trump’s endorsement), ultimately losing to incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine. He delivered a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention, championing military merit, warfighting focus, and a rejection of what he called “woke” distractions in the ranks.

In February 2025, President Trump nominated him as Under Secretary of the Navy. The Senate confirmed him in October 2025 by a 52-45 vote. In that role, Cao pushed for reducing bureaucracy, restoring a warrior ethos, emphasizing lethality and standards, and reinstating service members separated over the prior COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

What His Leadership Means Now

As Acting Secretary, Cao brings rare credibility: a man who fled communism as a child, served decades in uniform, and now helps steer the world’s most powerful navy. Supporters see him as a living example of the American Dream earned through sacrifice and assimilation, not entitlement. Critics of past military policies view his elevation as a signal of renewed focus on readiness, merit, and combat effectiveness over social experiments.

Cao is married with children and remains based in Virginia. His rapid ascent from refugee to the Navy’s civilian helm underscores a simple but powerful idea he has voiced repeatedly: America rewards those willing to embrace its laws, culture, and opportunities and defend them when necessary.

In a time when the Navy faces complex threats at sea, Hung Cao’s story offers both inspiration and a clear worldview forged in fire: come with nothing, ask for nothing, give everything and together, make America great again.

The fleet now sails under a leader who knows firsthand what freedom costs — and what it’s worth protecting.
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