Heggs fires top naval officer

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison on Friday, hitting insiders who helped re-arrange internal agreements to fit in the Trump administration’s vision for the defense agenda.

After Harrison was removed from office, President Trump appointed the second civilian under Navy Secretary John Phelan after confirmation by Deputy Deputy Secretary of the Navy Hung CAO.

Harrison and Phelan supported Hegseth’s new military policy, canceled many external contract agreements and reassigned assistants, who were intended to be helpful on the CAO after confirming earlier this week.

“Jon Harrison will no longer serve as Chief of Staff for the Secretary of the Navy. We thank him for his service to the department,” a Defense Department official said in a statement to the Hill.

Politico first reported on Harrison’s strike. Before serving as Chief of Staff, Harrison was appointed to the U.S. Arctic Research Council by Trump in 2020.

There, he served as chairman of the committee until the spring of 2021.

The Arctic was marked as a point of interest for White House officials in the early days of the second Trump administration as the president floated a potential U.S. acquisition of Greenland, while Vice President Vance visited Danish territory in March to highlight its critical natural resources.

Ultimately, the card swipe in Greenland was followed by June’s efforts to restore oil and gas drilling potential on 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic lands that had previously been restricted by the Biden administration.

A federal judge issued a ruling saying the Biden administration has blocked orders celebrated by major oil and gas groups indefinitely, blocking new drilling on most of the U.S. coasts.

Filip Timotia Contributed to this article.

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