Navy Secretary John Phelan has left his role amid reports of a falling out with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A Pentagon spokesperson said Wednesday the senior official left his post after disagreeing with Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg over several issues, including how to revive the Navy’s shipbuilding program.
“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Hegseth agreed new leadership at the Navy is needed,” a senior administration official told The Independent. “Secretary Hegseth informed John Phelan of this news prior to it being made public.”
Earlier this month, Hegseth ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who said troops deserved “courageous leaders of good character” in his departure email.
Phelan’s ousting follows a string of high-profile resignations and firings in the U.S. military, which is currently executing a blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
Global oil markets have been upended and prices continue to rise after Iranian forces seized and attacked three container ships that attempted to pass through the vital waterway Wednesday.
Who is John Phelan?
Phelan does not have a military background, and was previously a businessperson and political donor who contributed heavily to Trump’s campaign.
A Harvard and London School of Economics graduate, Phelan has a background in finance and was a co-founding partner and chief investment officer of MSD Capital, a private investment company. He resigned from the role in 2022 and founded Rugger Management LLC in Palm Beach, Florida.
In August 2024, he hosted Trump for a fundraising dinner at his Colorado home, where attendees forked out a minimum of $25,000, according to The Guardian.
Flight logs released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files also appear to suggest that Phelan flew on the disgraced financier’s plane, CNN reported. Mention in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing.
Trump hiring as Navy secretary
Phelan was sworn in as the 79th Navy secretary in March 2025, shortly after Trump’s reelection.
“John will be a tremendous force for our Naval service members, and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision,” the president said at the time. “He will put the business of the US Navy above all else.”
Phelan had a close relationship with the president, according to the Wall Street Journal. The pair, who own homes close to one another in Florida, regularly chatted at Mar-a-Lago, and Phelan would text the president late at night about shipbuilding, the outlet reports.
Senior Pentagon officials were reportedly left frustrated last year when Phelan took his proposal for a new battleship directly to the president, leaving Hegseth out of the loop, according to sources.
Political fallout
Hegseth and Feinberg were also frustrated by Phelan’s approach to shipbuilding reforms, in addition to his close relationship with the president.
Hegseth believed Phelan was moving too slowly at implementing the changes, while Feinberg was eyeing control of the major responsibilities associated with shipbuilding and Navy acquisitions that typically fall within the role of Navy secretary, according to CNN.
“Secretary Phelan’s abrupt dismissal is troubling,” Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
“In the midst of President Trump’s war of choice in Iran, at a moment when our naval forces are stretched thin across multiple theaters, this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong signal to our sailors and Marines, to our allies, and to our adversaries,” he added.
Who else has been sacked?
Phelan’s removal is the latest of several military changes during Hegseth’s tenure. He also fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George earlier this month, amid the ongoing war with Iran.
He was the third top general to have been fired in a week along with Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr. The New York Post reported that the defense secretary’s “paranoia” about being replaced by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was behind the move.
Hegseth reportedly removed four officers, including two women and two Black men, from a military promotions list last month, according to the New York Times.
Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, a three-star general working on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, was allegedly forced out in October after months of tensions with Hegseth over his military strategy.
Reports indicate the two sparred over the administration’s operations targeting suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela.
The president fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and removed the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, last February.
A total of 13 military officials had been removed or retired under the Trump administration by 3 April, according to Axios.
Hegseth has also claimed subordinates are behind embarrassing leaks, including allegations he used a commercial chat app to plan military strikes instead of high-security military channels.
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