In a dramatic move on Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed Jon Harrison, the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy.
This shake-up follows the Senate’s narrow confirmation of Hung Cao as Undersecretary of the Navy earlier that week.
BREAKING: US Senate CONFIRMS Trump nominee Hung Cao as Under Secretary for the Navy, 52-45.
Hung Cao brings a wealth of experience from his long Naval service and a personal history of fleeing communism in Vietnam. He also made an attempt to secure a Senate seat for Virginia in 2024. pic.twitter.com/YmjRoOFx1z
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 1, 2025
According to an excerpt from Politico:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth terminated Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison, an influential adviser who had been pivotal in restructuring the naval bureaucracy.
Sources within and outside the Pentagon suggest that the dismissal is directly correlated to the recent confirmation of Hung Cao, as Harrison had significant sway over Navy operations and decisions.
The Pentagon confirmed Harrison’s exit in an official statement: “He will no longer serve as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy. We express our gratitude for his service to the Department.”
Traditionally, the position of Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy has been one of behind-the-scenes diplomacy and logistics. However, Harrison, appointed during the Trump administration in January, wielded considerable influence and orchestrated major reforms within the Navy’s policies and budgetary frameworks while aiming to curtail the power of the Undersecretary’s role.
Hegseth’s decision to fire Harrison is just the latest in a series of seismic shifts within the Pentagon. This summer saw the dismissal of Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency amid controversial intelligence assessments regarding U.S. operations in Iran.
Earlier in the year, Hegseth had initiated a sweeping overhaul by removing every member serving on the advisory committees for the Department of Defense, an unprecedented action that underlines the ongoing transformation within national defense leadership.
