Congress needs to grant MAGA backer Hung Cao a waiver to lead the service, but lawmakers aren’t in town to do it anytime soon.
09/04/2026 8:45 AM UTC
The biggest obstacle to Hung Cao’s nomination to lead the Navy isn’t his incendiary campaign rhetoric or MAGA stance on national security.
It’s paperwork.
Cao — known for insisting the Pentagon recruit people who want “to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds” — is a Trump loyalist and former officer who has served as acting Navy secretary since April.
But he also retired from the service in 2021, and federal law requires a seven-year waiting period before former military officers can take several top civilian Pentagon jobs. Cao needs a waiver, and with Congress largely absent until after the midterms, it will take months.