Arthur McMiler
President Donald Trump has nominated Hung Cao, a retired U.S. Navy captain, as Department of the Navy under secretary, calling him “the embodiment of the American Dream,” the New York Post reported Friday.
Trump cited Cao’s 25 years of combat experience as a special operations officer and his immigration to the United States as a Vietnamese refugee.
“He went to our amazing United States Naval Academy and later earned his Master’s Degree in Physics,” the President noted.
VP Post at CACI
Cao is currently the vice president and client executive for Navy and Marine Corps at CACI, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined CACI in 2021 as a solutions architect.
Cao’s military career includes Navy Special Operations humanitarian and combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Cao earned his master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School and fellowships at MIT and Harvard. He ran and lost to incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in the 2025 U.S. senatorial race, during which he expressed his views against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the U.S. military.
