Navy secretary nominee blasts ‘systemic failures’ plaguing the fleet

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Navy on Thursday asserted that the service is in desperate need of reform, and promised to bring his outside business experience to the task of refocusing and reenergizing naval operations.

“The U.S. Navy is at crossroads, with extended deployments, inadequate maintenance, huge cost overruns, delayed shipbuilding, failed audits, subpar housing, and, sadly, record-high suicide rates,” businessman John Phelan told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing for the top civilian Navy post.

“These are systemic failures that have gone unaddressed for far too long. Frankly, this is unacceptable.”

Phelan, founder of the private investment firm Rugger Management and a major donor for Trump’s reelection campaign, acknowledged lawmakers’ concerns about his lack of military experience during his appearance before the committee. He never served in the ranks and has not been involved with civilian management of the military forces in the past.

But he asserted that a lack of connection to “traditional” military thinking is a positive trait for the future of the military.

“The Navy and the Marine Corps already possess extraordinary operational expertise within their ranks,” he said. “My role is to utilize that expertise and strengthen it, step outside the status quo and take decisive action with a results-oriented approach.

“Every shipbuilding delay, every maintenance backlog and every inefficiency is an opening for our adversaries to challenge our dominance. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Phelan’s pitch drew mixed results from lawmakers on the committee, though little outright opposition.

“While you clearly have experience managing large companies, you do not have any significant experience with the U.S. Navy or the military at large,” cautioned Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member of the committee. “You will have to quickly learn a great deal about a complex organization, including its hundreds of thousands of sailors and Marines, while the service faces growing international threats and internal challenges.”

Phelan insisted he is up to the task. He listed his top three priorities as ensuring the health and welfare of service members, strengthening naval capabilities and “fostering adaptive, accountable and innovative warfighter culture” within the services.

He suggested the Navy and Marine Corps could do better with digital recruiting efforts, and plans to focus on that as part of a broader recruiting and retention push.

Phelan also promised to look into the potential impact of looming civilian employee cuts throughout the Defense Department, although he deferred to comment specifically on moves already announced by Pentagon leaders.

The Navy Secretary nominee is expected to be approved by the Republican-controlled committee sometime in early March. A full Senate confirmation vote could take several weeks, based on delays from a rush of nominees seeking full-chamber approval.