Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Navy chief of staff in a sudden shakeup following the confirmation of Hung Cao as the new Navy Under Secretary.
“Jon Harrison will no longer serve as the Chief of Staff of the Secretary of the Navy. We are grateful for his service to the Department,” a Pentagon spokesman told Military Times in a statement on Saturday.
At the time of publication, Harrison had not provided a comment about his ousting.
Harrison was a political appointee of President Donald Trump who had worked with Navy Secretary John Phelan on efforts to streamline the Navy’s policy and budgeting offices after coming into their posts with many of the Navy’s biggest programs years behind schedule.
Politico was first to report on the ouster.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said Harrison had attempted to limit the role of the undersecretary, Navy veteran Cao, and had reassigned aides meant to help Cao in his new role.
Cao, a Republican and strong Trump supporter, ran and lost in Virginia to Democratic opponents in races for both the House and Senate.
Hegseth has fired several top aides this year, including senior advisor Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense.
He has also removed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan and several other uniformed leaders.