2026-04-25T11:00:50.987Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：杰里米·赫布、黑利·布里茨基
29分钟前发布
发布时间：2026年4月25日，美国东部时间上午7:00
安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社
作为海军副部长，洪曹——退役海军上校、弗吉尼亚州前联邦参议院共和党候选人——本应拥有该军种二号文职官员的广泛职权范围，涵盖人事问题以及维护海军的“战士精神”。
但据一位了解内情的消息人士告诉CNN，实际上曹常被其上司海军部长约翰·费兰排除在决策之外，费兰将曹“限制在小圈子之外”。
该消息人士称，曹被隔绝在海军决策圈之外，也不被允许在费兰未出席的官方会议上代表费兰，而这是常规副部长的分内工作。
这一切在本周唐纳德·特朗普总统和国防部长皮特·赫格斯突然罢免费兰的海军部长职务后发生了改变。曹如今以代理身份接任该职位。据该消息人士透露，他是从五角大楼办公厅得知自己获得晋升的，对方将他召去并说道：“好了，就你了——我们做了人事调整。”
“他正在快速熟悉此前不允许他参与的所有事务，”该消息人士补充道。
作为一名功勋卓著的特种作战军官，曹接掌海军最高文职岗位之际，正值该军种在阻止伊朗船只通过霍尔木兹海峡方面发挥关键作用。作为2024年弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩的共和党竞选对手，曹曾支持特朗普和赫格斯针对社会问题的抨击，以及反对多元化、公平性与包容性（DEI）举措的立场。
曹在童年时期随家人在越南战争期间逃离越南，之后移民美国。
2021年从海军退役后，他于2022年以共和党身份竞选国会众议员，并在2024年挑战凯恩的参议员席位，期间他热衷于发表争议性言论。
“当你用变装皇后来为海军征兵时，那不是我们想要的人，”曹在2024年与凯恩的辩论中回应征兵相关问题时说道。“我们需要的是阿尔法男性和阿尔法女性，他们会豁出性命、义无反顾。这些年轻男女才是能赢得战争的人。”
安娜贝尔·戈登/法新社/盖蒂图片社
在被任命为代理部长后的一份声明中，曹表示他将专注于推进海军的造船优先级——这正是导致费兰被解雇的核心议题。
“我将始终致力于完成海军部作为顶级作战组织的核心任务，并为前线的作战人员提供坚定不移的支持，”曹说道。
费兰是一名商人、特朗普的友人，曾为其竞选活动筹款。他被罢免海军部长职务，源于与赫格斯持续数月的紧张关系。据CNN此前报道，赫格斯认为费兰在推行造船改革方面行动过于迟缓，同时对费兰直接与特朗普沟通感到恼火，认为这是试图绕过他。
目前尚不清楚曹是否会被正式提名为永久海军部长人选。
在给CNN的一份声明中，五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔表示，曹“为海军最高职位带来了久经考验的领导力”，并且他“体现了维持美国海上优势所需的不屈不挠的决心和‘美国优先’愿景”。
根据他的海军履历，曹1975年移民美国后，与家人搬到西非，他的父亲在那里担任美国国际开发署（USAID）的农业专家。曹在12岁时回到弗吉尼亚州。
他随后于1989年应征入伍海军，并在1996年从美国海军学院毕业后成为军官。在三十年的军旅生涯中，曹先后担任海军潜水员和爆炸物处理军官。他的部署任务包括伊拉克、阿富汗和索马里。他还曾在五角大楼负责预算与采购工作。
曹与赫格斯在两人加入特朗普政府之前就已相识，曹还曾陪同赫格斯于去年11月前往越南。
在2024年11月大选前几天的弗吉尼亚州集会上，特朗普称赞了这位弗吉尼亚州参议院候选人，并邀请他上台同台。
“很高兴能和一位很棒的家伙一起上台，仅凭这个名字，我就坚信他会赢得参议院席位——洪曹，”特朗普说道。特朗普赢得了白宫，但输掉了弗吉尼亚州，凯恩以54%比45%的得票率击败曹，成功连任参议员。
在参议院竞选期间，曹经常批评拜登政府的DEI政策，将其归咎于美军的征兵难题。
“本届政府越来越痴迷于DEI。难怪我国面临征兵问题，而在哈里斯-沃尔兹政府治下，这一问题还会持续下去，”曹2024年9月在X平台上写道。
安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社
曹于10月1日被任命为海军副部长。所有民主党议员都投了反对票，所有共和党议员都投了赞成票，阿拉斯加州参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基除外，她投了反对票。
同年10月，赫格斯解雇了费兰的办公厅主任，部分原因是该主任在曹上任前试图破坏海军副部长办公室的工作，据Politico去年秋天报道。
作为副部长，曹被任命为关岛的高级国防官员——这里正是曹的家人数十年前作为越南难民最初抵达的地方。他还负责海军的征兵与人事政策，包括执行特朗普的行政命令，恢复2021年因新冠疫苗 mandate被开除的军人职务。
今年1月，曹致信为因该命令被开除的水兵道歉。
“对于在新冠疫情期间被错误开除的水兵和陆战队员，我们辜负了你们。我们永远不会允许此类事情再次发生。在我的任期内，绝不会，”曹在签署道歉信的视频中说道。“你们是有良知的战士，我们需要你们这样的人重返部队。”
那位了解内情的消息人士称，曹已告诉五角大楼官员，他不会试图绕过特朗普或赫格斯。“他将在部门内部提出反馈意见，”该消息人士说，“并且他将忠诚支持总统做出的任何决定。”
Hung Cao said the military should be filled with ‘alpha males and alpha females.’ Now he’s Trump’s acting Navy secretary
2026-04-25T11:00:50.987Z / CNN
By Jeremy Herb, Haley Britzky
29 min ago
PUBLISHED Apr 25, 2026, 7:00 AM ET
Hung Cao, then a Republican candidate for Senate in Virginia, speaks during a rally on June 28, 2024 in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
As undersecretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain and former Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, was supposed to have a broad portfolio as the service’s No. 2 civilian, which included personnel issues and safeguarding the Navy’s “warfighter ethos.”
But in reality, Cao was often cut out of decision-making by his boss, Navy Secretary John Phelan, one source familiar with the situation told CNN, who said Phelan put Cao “in a box”
Cao was isolated from Navy decision making and wasn’t allowed to represent Phelan in official meetings that Phelan didn’t attend, something a typical undersecretary would do, the source said.
That all changed following Pehlan’s sudden ouster as Navy secretary by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week. Cao is now in the job on an acting basis. He learned about his promotion from the Pentagon front office, which called him in and said, “Ok, you’re it — we made a change,” according to the source.
“He’s quickly coming up to speed on all the things he wasn’t allowed to be involved in,” the source added.
A decorated special operations officer, Cao takes over as the Navy’s top civilian at a time when the service is playing a critical role in stopping Iranian ships from traversing the Strait of Hormuz. As the 2024 Republican nominee against Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, Cao championed Trump and Hegseth’s attacks on social issues and opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Cao immigrated to the US as a child after his family fled Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
After retiring from the Navy in 2021, he ran for Congress as a Republican in 2022 and challenged Kaine in 2024, where he had a penchant for making controversial statements.
“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said at a 2024 debate with Kaine in response to a question about military recruiting. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat ’em and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”
Acting Navy Secretary and former Under Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao attends a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on Friday.
Annabelle Gordon/AFP/Getty Images
In a statement after his appointment as acting secretary, Cao said that he would focus on advancing the Navy’s shipbuilding priorities — the very issue that contributed to Phelan’s firing.
“I remain fully committed to accomplishing the core mission of the Department of the Navy as a premier warfighting organization and providing unwavering support to our warriors downrange,” Cao said.
Phelan, a businessman and friend of Trump’s who fundraised for his campaign, was removed as Navy secretary following tensions with Hegseth that had stretched on for months. Hegseth believed Phelan was moving too slowly on implementing shipbuilding reforms and was also irked by Phelan’s direct communication with Trump, which Hegseth viewed as an attempt to bypass him, CNN previously reported.
It’s unclear whether Cao will be nominated to take over as Navy secretary permanently.
In a statement to CNN, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Cao “brings battle-tested leadership to the Navy’s highest office” and that he “embodies the relentless grit and America First vision required to maintain America’s maritime superiority.”
After immigrating to the US in 1975, Cao and his family then moved to West Africa, where his father served as a USAID agricultural specialist, according to his Navy biography. Cao returned to Virginia when he was 12.
He then enlisted in the Navy in 1989 and became an officer after graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1996. Over a three-decade career Cao worked as a Navy diver and explosive ordnance disposal officer. His deployments included Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He also had a stint at the Pentagon working on budgets and acquisitions.
Cao and Hegseth knew each other before they both joined the Trump administration, and Cao accompanied Hegseth on a trip to Vietnam in November.
At a 2024 rally in Virginia just days before the November election, Trump praised the Virginia Senate candidate and called him up to join him on stage.
“We’re pleased to be joined by a wonderful guy, and with this name I really believe he’s gonna win for the senate — Hung Cao,” Trump said. Trump won the White House but lost Virginia, and Kaine defeated Cao in the Senate race 54% to 45%.
In his Senate race, Cao often criticized the Biden administration’s DEI policies, blaming them for the military’s recruiting issues.
“This administration has a growing obsession with DEI. It’s no wonder we have a military recruiting problem in our country and that will continue under Harris/Walz,” Cao wrote on X in September 2024.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks alongside Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia Hung Cao at the Truong Tien Restaurant in the Eden Center on August 26, 2024 in Falls Church, Virginia.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Cao was confirmed as Navy undersecretary on October 1. All Democrats voted against Cao nomination and all Republicans supported him, except for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted no.
That same month, Phelan’s chief of staff was fired by Hegseth, in part over efforts to undermine the Navy undersecretary’s office before Cao arrived on the job, Politico reported last fall.
As undersecretary, Cao was tapped to be the senior defense official for Guam, where Cao’s family first arrived decades earlier as Vietnamese refugees. He also headed up recruitment and personnel policy for the Navy, including implementing Trump’s executive order to reinstate service members who were discharged from the military over its Covid-19 vaccine mandate in 2021.
In January, Cao wrote a letter apologizing to sailors who were kicked out of the military as a result of the mandate.
“To the sailors and Marines who were wrongfully discharged during Covid, we failed you. We will never allow this to happen again. Not on my watch,” Cao said in a video where he signed the apology letter. “You are warriors of conscience, and we need people like you back in the force.”
The source familiar with the situation said that Cao has told Pentagon officials he won’t try to go around Trump or Hegseth. “He is going to give his feedback within the building,” the source said, “and he will loyally support whatever decision the president makes.”
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