John C. Phelan was confirmed as the 79th Secretary of the Navy in March 2025 by a vote of 62 to 30. He had no military experience, no background in national security and no history in the defense industry.
He was a private equity executive, a Trump megadonor, a Palm Beach neighbor and, as Epstein files released in 2025 revealed, a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane on two occasions in 2006. On Wednesday, he resigned.
Phelan was widely noted upon his nomination for his lack of experience with the Navy, the military, national security policy and the defense industry.
The Associated Press reported at the time that he would be “the first in the Navy since 2006” without prior military experience. He lasted 13 months. The Navy he was overseeing is currently blockading Iranian ports in the middle of an active war, a situation that presumably requires more than an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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The official explanation, however, was… minimal.
A spokesperson for Pete Hegseth confirmed the departure: “Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately. On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Undersecretary Hung Cao will serve as Acting Secretary of the Navy.
Just five days before his resignation, Phelan issued an unclassified memo to Navy personnel warning of adversary cyber actors conducting a social engineering campaign targeting sailors and their families in response to Operation Epic Fury, describing active spear phishing and social media contact attempts against Department of the Navy personnel.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground is only getting worse.
The US Navy blockade of Iranian ports began on April 17 after peace negotiations collapsed and JD Vance returned from Islamabad empty-handed.
Two days before Phelan’s resignation, the US Navy attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship attempting to pass through the blockade. The Strait, which typically processes over 3,000 ships and roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply, has been reduced to a handful of transits per day since the conflict began in February.
And then there is the Epstein footnote, which never really went away.
Passenger logs released in 2025 showed Phelan flew twice on Epstein’s plane in early 2006, including a flight with Epstein himself, modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and several redacted names. The White House never publicly addressed those records.
That unanswered detail now follows him out the door.
Phelan joins a growing list of departures that includes Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Cabinet fixer Lea Bardon. Tulsi Gabbard may be next.
All of it leaves the administration juggling a naval blockade, an active war, a ceasefire that has already expired, and now a vacancy at the top of the Navy.
Featured image via X screengrab
