The highest civilian official in the US Navy, John Phelan, is leaving his position "effective immediately", the Pentagon said on Wednesday, without providing an explanation for his sudden departure. Sources indicate, however, that the Secretary of the Navy was fired, like many other officials before him since Donald Trump's return to the White House.
Published on: 04/23/2026 - 08:05 Modified on: 04/23/2026 - 08:15
One more. US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan was fired on Wednesday April 22, according to a US official and a person familiar with the matter, at a time when the United States is engaged in a conflict with Iran. A name which is added to the long list of senior officials of the American army dismissed since the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
The Pentagon announced John Phelan's departure in a brief statement, announcing that the Secretary of the Navy was leaving the US administration "effective immediately." No details on the reasons for his departure were provided.
The sources said John Phelan was notably fired because he was not implementing reforms aimed at accelerating shipbuilding quickly enough and because his relationship with senior Pentagon officials had deteriorated.
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One of the sources cited his poor relationships with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, and Deputy Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao. The latter will now serve as Secretary of the Navy, the Pentagon said.
This new departure is added to the list of senior officers of the American army dismissed, generally without explanation, since the return of Donald Trump to the White House in January 2025.
Army Chief of Staff dismissed in early April
At the beginning of the month, in the midst of the war against Iran, it was the Chief of Staff of the American Army, General Randy George, who was pushed out overnight, without the Pentagon providing any justification either.
Two other generals, David Hodne, in charge of commanding army transformation and training, and William Green Jr., head of the military chaplain corps, met the same fate.
As early as February 2025, shortly after Donald Trump's return to power, the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff installed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, General Charles "CQ" Brown, was ousted without justification and replaced by Dan Caine.
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Other senior officials, at the head of the Navy and Coast Guard, the NSA intelligence agency, and the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force, among others, had also been dismissed from their positions.
A few months later, in mid-August, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Allvin, announced his hasty departure, after two years in office instead of four. Had followed in December the senior officer at the head of the command of the American forces for South and Central America, Admiral Alvin Holsey, after only a year in post.
With AFP and Reuters
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