Secretary of War Pete Hegseth abruptly fired top Navy aid Jon Harrison on Friday.
Harrison’s firing as the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy comes after Hung Cao was confirmed as the Navy Undersecretary this week.
BREAKING: US Senate CONFIRMS Trump nominee Hung Cao as Under Secretary for the Navy, 52-45.
Hung Cao served in the Navy for YEARS and fled communism from Vietnam. He ran for Virginia US Senate in 2024. pic.twitter.com/YmjRoOFx1z
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 1, 2025
Excerpt from Politico:
Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth on Friday fired Navy chief of staff Jon Harrison, an unusually powerful top aide who had orchestrated a reshuffle of the service’s bureaucracy.
The sudden ouster, according to two defense officials and a former defense official, follows the confirmation this week of Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao.
The Pentagon, in a statement, confirmed Harrison’s departure. “He will no longer serve as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy,” it said. “We are grateful for his service to the Department.”
The Navy secretary’s chief of staff has traditionally been a behind-the-scenes job, the senior aide who keeps everything moving smoothly. But Harrison, a Trump administration appointee who joined the service in January, had a rare level of power.
Harrison and Navy Secretary John Phelan had introduced sweeping changes to the Navy’s policy and budgeting offices and sought to limit the influence of the undersecretary job.
Friday’s firing was part of the latest shakeup at the Pentagon.
Over the summer, Hegseth fired the general in charge of the agency that released the dubious ‘top secret’ intelligence assessment about the US’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Earlier this year, Hegseth formally terminated the service of every member sitting on the Department of Defense’s advisory committees.
