CaliToday (05/10/2025): Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly fired Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison on Friday, a stunning move against a key insider who had been instrumental in realigning the service's internal processes with the Trump administration's national defense agenda.
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| Hegseth fires top Navy official |
Harrison's dismissal, which sends a powerful message through the Pentagon's leadership ranks, comes just days after the confirmation of Hung Cao as the new Under Secretary of the Navy. Cao, a Trump appointee, is now the second-highest-ranking civilian official under Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.
Sources indicate that Harrison, alongside Phelan, had been deeply involved in supporting Hegseth’s efforts to implement new military policies. These initiatives included canceling numerous external contracts and reassigning aides who were expected to support the newly confirmed Under Secretary Cao, suggesting a potential power struggle or realignment at the top of the Navy's civilian leadership.
A Department of Defense (DOD) official confirmed the move in a brief statement to The Hill. "Jon Harrison will no longer serve as the Chief of Staff of the Navy. We are grateful for his service to the Department," the official said.
The news was first reported by Politico.
Before his tenure with the Navy, Harrison was a Trump appointee to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission in 2020, where he served as its chairman until the spring of 2021.
His background is particularly relevant given the administration's significant strategic focus on the Arctic. This focus was established early in the second Trump term, marked by the president's proposal to acquire Greenland and a subsequent visit to the Danish territory in March by Vice President Vance to highlight its critical natural resources.
This interest in the Arctic was followed by a concerted effort in June to reverse Biden-era restrictions and restore the potential for oil and gas drilling across 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic land.
In a timely and related development on Friday, a federal judge handed the administration a major victory, ruling that the Biden administration had overreached its authority by indefinitely blocking new drilling operations off most of the U.S. coast. The ruling, which was celebrated by major oil and gas corporations, directly aligns with the administration's policy goals in the Arctic, making the timing of Harrison's ouster all the more intriguing.
