On the 22nd, Chief Spokesperson for the Department of War, Parnell, announced on social media that US Navy Secretary Ferren will step down with immediate effect. Navy Undersecretary Gao Xiong (of Vietnamese descent) will serve as the acting Navy Secretary.
This will be the first military branch secretary to depart during President Trump’s second term.
The reasons for Ferren’s sudden resignation are currently unclear. Just a day earlier, Ferren had delivered a speech at an annual Navy conference held in the outskirts of Washington.
Since January 2025, the Trump administration has dismissed multiple senior military generals and officials. After Hagseth took office as Secretary of War, he pushed for large-scale reforms in the Department of War, demanding a reduction of at least 20% in the number of serving four-star generals in the US military. High-ranking US military officials such as then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brown, Director of the National Security Agency and Cyber Command Commander Timothy Ho, Chief of Naval Operations Franchetti, and Coast Guard Commandant Fagan were successively dismissed or forced into early retirement.
Earlier this month, US Army Chief of Staff George was dismissed and retired.