Hegseth shoots the best Navy officers

The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hesgeth, dismissed on Friday the head of the Marine Cabinet, Jon Harrison, an unusually powerful superior assistant who had orchestrated a reorganization of the service bureaucracy.

The sudden expulsion, according to two defense officials and a former defense official, follows this week’s confirmation of the Navy Hunga Cao.

The Pentagon, in a statement, confirmed Harrison’s departure. “It will no longer serve as chief of cabinet of the Secretary of the Navy,” he said. “We are grateful for their service to the department.”

Harrison declined to comment.

The head of staff of the Secretary of the Navy has traditionally been a work behind the scene, the high -level assistant who maintains everything in motion without problems. But Harrison, designated by the Trump administration that joined the service in January, had a rare level of power.

The secretary of Harrison and the Navy, John Phelan, had introduced radical changes in the Marine and Budget offices of the Navy and sought to limit the influence of the Undersecretary work.

Political previously reported that Phelan and Harrison had reassigned to several assistants who were supposed to help Cao navigate the paper once confirmed. They had also planned to interview all future military assistants for CAO to ensure that decisions came from the secretary’s office.

Cao is a high -profile veteran of the Navy and former republican Senate candidate in Virginia, which President Donald Trump nominated for the position.

The expulsion is still months of musical chairs within the Pentagon. Hegseth shot several main assistants earlier this year and withdrew the chair of the joint bosses, as well as the uniformed leaders of the Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard.

Trump has promised to revive the naval construction industry. But the largest service programs are years ago and both the United States allies and their greatest adversaries are overcoming the productivity of American shipyards.