Jon Harrison, the Department of the Navy’s chief of staff, was abruptly fired on Friday, October 3, 2025. The order came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose office offered a brief acknowledgement without details. Multiple outlets report the move followed a bitter internal fight over who controls the Navy’s policymaking, budgeting, and personnel machinery.

The other day, Hegseth noted his FAFO philosophy. Harrison just found out the hard way that Pete’s not fooling around.

Who Fired Him, And Why Now

Hegseth made the call. The timing tracks with the Senate confirmation of Hung Cao as Under Secretary of the Navy earlier this week, a high-profile addition to Navy leadership. Reporting indicates Harrison and Navy Secretary John Phelan had been reshaping the Navy’s bureaucracy in w

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