White House Dismisses Navy's First Female Leader, Plans Funding Cuts
The Trump administration has ordered the diversion of eight percent of military spending and fired two senior service leaders, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. C.Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold the post and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs. Franchetti's unprecedented dismissal brings her term to an end almost three years early.
The Pentagon dismissed Adm. Franchetti before selecting a permanent replacement, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Friday that he is open to nominations for candidates for the post. Vice CNO Adm. James Kilby has taken on Franchetti's role in the interim.
Adm. Lisa Franchetti is a surface warfare officer by background. She commanded USS Ross (DDG 71), and she served aboard USS Shenandoah, USS Monongahela, USS Moosbrugger and USS Stout. She also commanded Carrier Strike Group 9; Carrier Strike Group 15; and headed Strategy, Plans and Policy (J-5) on the Joint Staff. She became Vice Chief of Naval Operations in September 2022, receiving confirmation by voice vote from the U.S. Senate.
Franchetti was promoted to Chief of Naval Operations in November 2023 and confirmed on a vote of 95-1. The sole objector, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KY) blasted her appointment as an example of diversity hiring, suggesting that her four decades in the Navy and her career in command of surface warfare units, carrier strike groups and fleet-level commands were not sufficient to make her a competitive candidate.
"President Biden nominated Adm. Franchetti not because she is qualified or competent to do the job but because of this administration’s obsession with diversity and inclusion," Sen. Marshall said at the time. "[Former President Joe Biden] even disregarded the recommendation of his own Secretary of Defense for this position."
The Trump administration's pick for the next Secretary of the Navy, financier and art collector John Phelan, has no prior experience in any defense field, whether in uniform, in government or in a defense contracting role. He was a prominent donor and fundraiser for the president's successful 2024 election campaign.
Unexpected spending changes
Last week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued plans to cut existing military programs by eight percent ($50 billion) and redirect the funding to other White House priorities. These new areas of focus include border security measures and a new "Iron Dome for America" missile defense system, inspired by Israel's achievements in reducing the threat of midrange ballistic missile and drone strikes.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said Wednesday that programs targeted would begin with initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change. The savings "could be used to fund [the president's] priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars," he told media.
In a memo, Hegseth that 17 programs would be exempt from the cuts. The list protects the Virginia-class attack submarine program, but not the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, the Navy's costliest and most challenging acquisition program. The memo does protect modernization of nuclear weapons, which the Columbia-class will carry.
The Navy's chronically-underfunded shipbuilding program is protected for "executable" warship contracts only; the futures of long-term initiatives, like the DDG(X) next-generation destroyer or the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) are less certain.
"The Secretary of Defense is injecting a colossal amount of confusion and churn and uncertainty into the budgeting process," Bryan McGrath, a defense and national security consultant and retired Navy commander, told Business Insider in an interview on Thursday.
The administration is also moving to fire thousands of probationary employees in the defense department. The contours of the dismissals are not yet known; the military has more than 900,000 civilian employees in the U.S. and around the world.
"It is not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical," John Ullyot, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement last week.