MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For more on what the dismissal of the Navy secretary could mean, we've called retired Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery. He is now senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. Admiral, welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.
MARK MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: So what was your initial reaction when you heard that John Phelan had been removed?
MONTGOMERY: Oh, look, I'm not disappointed. You know, as Greg described, he was not qualified for this job, but probably more importantly, he was out of alignment with the vision of Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, OMB Director Russ Vought and Secretary Pete Hegseth. And this is at a time when the Navy is getting a generational level of funding for shipbuilding. You know, this year's budgets put in at $69 billion, nearly double what it was three years ago in shipbuilding. So, I mean, at a time when you needed alignment, he was out of align. He was out of it with the senior leadership at the Pentagon and at the Office of Management and Budget.
MARTIN: And what about some of the decisions you could actually trace to him? I'm thinking about, like, the new frigate replacement?
MONTGOMERY: Yeah, that's a perfect example. The new frigate replacement. He was right to cancel the Constellation. The previous frigate had gotten out of control spending-wise and delivery-wise, mostly due to Navy errors. But his decision to immediately replace it without doing a competitive process with a, you know, with a version of a coastguard cutter that had no anti-submarine warfare, no air defense, no vertical launch for things like tomahawk and was very noisy. It was the opposite of the ship you would want for a frigate. He rushed into it with no one else's agreement. And, you know, we were suddenly, you know, getting ready to head down the path of an even worse frigate than the one he canceled. And I think that really frustrated senior leaders around him.
MARTIN: Well, so as we pointed out, you know, John Phelan was a civilian, but the White House has removed several top military leaders from their positions since President Trump took office, including in the middle of the war with Iran. And I'm wondering, as a person who's served yourself for many years, what message do you think this sends to active-duty military?
MONTGOMERY: I would separate a service secretary, this one, particularly when it's really for cause, right? He was not carrying out the vision that we need of a distributed fleet, you know, and so I think that they needed to get rid of him. The generals that have been fired - and as Greg said, almost 25 generals and admirals have been let go - a lot of that was based on less rigorous standards. It was basically Pete Hegseth didn't like what they looked like or what they said in the past about DEI. And, you know, that's inappropriate. That - the firing of those generals, guys like Randy George, impacts the morale of the force. The removal of John Phelan will have no impact on the force. And in the long run, we might build the generational Navy we need.
MARTIN: And Hung Cao, who had been Navy under secretary, will now take over as acting secretary. Look, in contrast to Phelan, he is a veteran, but does he have the kind of management or administrative experience that you might think you'd want for that job? I mean, I guess the question is, do you see him as an improvement?
MONTGOMERY: A significant improvement. You know, a couple of things I'd say first. What a great story. He's an immigrant from Vietnam, came to our country, went to the Naval Academy, succeeded. But he's an engineer. He's an experienced military officer - did nearly 30 years. And he's aligned with the deputy secretary of defense, Steve Feinberg. I suspect he's aligned with the Office of Management and Budget, and he understands what the vision of the Navy ought to be.
MARTIN: And before we let you go, you have only about 20 seconds here. Like, do you feel generally confident about the direction that the Navy is headed in order to be effective, you know, in the 21st century?
MONTGOMERY: I do with the kind of resources they're getting from the president and Congress. I wish they dropped the battleship. I think it's a bloated expenditure, but outside of that, I think they can now get focused on the Navy we'll need to confront China and other adversaries.
MARTIN: That's Mark Montgomery. He's a retired Navy rear admiral. He's now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Admiral, thank you so much for joining us.
MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me.
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