A retired four-star admiral who once served as the Navy’s second-highest ranking officer, was convicted of bribery and other conspiracy charges, making him the most senior member of the U.S. military ever convicted of committing a federal crime while on active duty.
Following a five-day trial, retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke, 62, was found guilty on Monday of a scheme to direct lucrative contracts to a training company in exchange for a $500,000-a-year job after leaving the Navy, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Burke is facing up to 30 years in prison for his role in the scheme to direct contracts potentially worth millions of dollars to a New York City-based company that offered training programs to the Navy.
"When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro wrote in a post on X following the conviction.
"Our office, with our law enforcement partners, will root out corruption – be it bribes or illegal contracts – and hold accountable the perpetrators, no matter what title or rank they hold," Pirro continued.
Burke, who served as vice chief of naval operations, was once the Navy’s second-highest ranking officer.
According to court documents and as the evidence proved at trial, from 2020 to 2022, Burke was a four-star admiral who oversaw U.S. naval operations in Europe, Russia, and most of Africa, and commanded thousands of civilian and military personnel.
Yongchul "Charlie" Kim and Meghan Messenger, co-CEOs of a company not named by the DOJ, allegedly participated in the scheme to get a government contract in exchange for offering Burke a position with the company.
The company provided a training program for a small part of the Navy from 2018 and 2019, before their contract was terminated.
The company was told by the Navy not to contact Burke, but the three met in Washington, D.C., in July 2021 and Burke allegedly agreed to use his influence to get the company a sole-source contract and urge other Naval officers to use the company for a more widespread training program that Kim estimated would be worth "triple digit millions."
In December 2021, Burke allegedly ordered his staff to award the company a $355,000 contract to train Naval personnel under his command in Italy and Spain and made an unsuccessful attempt to convince a senior Naval commander to give them another contract.
"There was no connection between this contract and his employment. The math just doesn’t make sense that he would give them this relatively small contract for that type of job offer," Burke's defense attorney, Timothy Parlatore, previously told Fox News Digital.
Burke allegedly implied that he had no role in awarding the contract, and that his discussions with Kim and Messenger didn’t start until after the contract started.
Both Kim and Messenger were arrested in May 2024 and were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery and could face 20 years in prison.
Parlatore told Fox News Digital that they are "obviously disappointed by the verdict," but said "this is a result of the fact that the jury did not get to hear the whole story."
"The investigation was very poorly conducted. It was conducted by the exact same investigator who completely screwed up the Fat Leonard case," Paralore said.
"They didn't do any research and so you have an incompetent and unethical, corrupt investigator relying upon the word of a known liar, building this terrible case. And ultimately, the only way that they could bring it to a conviction was to only present certain evidence to the jury," Paralore continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
The Navy will no longer pursue a zero-emissions goal instituted under the Biden administration, Secretary John Phelan announced on Wednesday.
"We need to focus on having a lethal and ready naval force, unimpeded by ideologically motivated regulations," Phelan said in a video announcing he would rescind the Navy Climate Action 2030 Plan.
The plan had called for the Navy to use 100% emissions-free vehicles by 2035 and to use 100% carbon pollution-free electricity sources by 2030, with a 65% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.
Naval installations all along the coast are threatened by rising sea levels and increased storms, Meredith Berger, the former assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, argued at the time.
"2030 is the marker that we laid down initially because the scientific community and others have said that this is the decade of decisive action, and so we’re taking that very seriously," she told reporters.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth applauded Phelan’s move in a post on X: "Well done."
Under Biden’s Navy secretary, Carlos del Toro, the service branch produced a 32-page document deeming climate change "one of the most destabilizing forces of our time."
It laid out a series of climate change-related threats to the Navy: destructive storms, black flag days at or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit where strenuous training is curtailed, and strains on the energy grid as people compete for power. The document followed Biden’s own bold plan to make the U.S. economy net-zero-emissions by 2050.
During the Obama administration, then-Navy Sec. Ray Mabus launched an effort dubbed the "Great Green Fleet," aimed at renewable energy sources for warships. The effort was canned by the first Trump administration in 2017.
In February, Hegseth ordered Pentagon agencies to identify 8% of their budget that could be cut, "low-impact and low-priority" Biden-era programs, and the funding redirected to Trump priorities.
Programs that could be on the chopping block include "so-called 'climate change' and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy," according to Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses.
"Disgusting," said Navy SEAL veteran Rob Sweetman in describing the smell and mist of Mexican sewage spewing into U.S. waters as he stood on a hill overlooking the Tijuana River estuary in California.
Sweetman, a Navy veteran who served on the SEALs for eight years, spoke to Fox News Digital to sound the alarm on a water crisis rocking the San Diego area, including where SEALs train, taking a camera with him to show viewers firsthand how the contaminated water flows into the U.S.
Just one mile away from where Sweetman spoke, SEALs and candidates train in the same water, which has sickened more than 1,000 candidates in a five-year period, per a Department of Defense watchdog report released in February.
San Diego and the surrounding area are in a clean-water crisis that has raged for decades, but it is finding revived concern from the Trump administration as SEALs and local veterans sound the alarm about a "national security crisis" that they say is on par with the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,water crisis.
Thousands of Marines and others were sickened at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between 1953 and 1987 as a result of water contaminated by industrial solvents used to drink, bathe and cook at the training facility.
Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm, which advocates for disabled veterans and those navigating the VA's complicated health system, told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview, "San Diego County is as big as some states. It's giant. Millions of people live here and are breathing the air of this water. It goes well beyond the military. It's a crisis. It's a FEMA-level travesty, and we have just been hiding it."
The Navy has deep roots in the San Diego area, with the United States Naval Special Warfare Command headquartered in America's Finest City and where Navy SEAL candidates complete their arduous six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.
But the water crisis hit crisis level when it was reported in 2024 that 44 billion gallons of contaminated water imbued with raw sewage was released along the California coast in 2023, the most on record since at least 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
The issue of sewage water flowing into U.S. waters is largely attributed to outdated wastewater infrastructure across the southern border, local media outlets reported this month, with Mexico reportedly in the midst of addressing its infrastructure to curb the leaks of sewage water. The Tijuana River has for decades been plagued by sewage and waste that has affected its beaches and neighboring San Diego.
In February, the Department of Defense's inspector general released a report finding that the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone.
"Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water occurred because (Naval Special Warfare Command) did not follow San Diego County's Beach and Bay Water Quality Program's beach closure postings," the inspector general report found. "As a result of Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water during training, candidates are presented with increased health risks and NAVSPECWARCOM's training mission could be impacted."
It was when Monroe, who is well-versed with veteran health through VetComm, was working with SEALs who were retiring that she realized the severity of the San Diego water pollution of the past few years.
She observed an increase in health claims related to intestinal issues and "weird cancers," which was a departure from typical claims related to PTSD or orthopedic ailments.
"I started creating relationships with the SEAL teams, the people that were exiting the SEALs, you know, at 14 years, 20 years, nearing their retirement," Monroe told Fox News Digital. "And the claims that we were making for these guys were surprising to me because a lot of them, they have combat PTSD, a lot of orthopedic issues. But we were having guys coming to us with, like, IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers, and they were all attributing it to their time spent in San Diego training to be a SEAL in that water here that we have in San Diego."
Swimming and spending time in water contaminated with feces can lead to a host of illnesses, including bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that leave people nauseous, vomiting and rushing to the bathroom.
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum was only days from entering the SEAL's aptly named Hell Week – the fourth week of basic conditioning for SEAL candidates –when nausea hit him, and he was trapped in a cycle of drinking water and vomiting when he realized a serious illness had its grips on him.
Gum is a retired SEAL who served from 2007 to 2017 and was exposed to the contaminated water in 2008 during BUD/S training off the San Diego coast.
"I couldn't stop," Gum recounted of how he couldn't keep water down without vomiting. "You never really want to go to medical because they can pull you out or make you get rolled to the next class, but I couldn't even drink water without throwing up. It's the only time in my whole life that this has happened."
Gum's nausea overcame him on a Friday in 2008, with Hell Week kicking off that Sunday night. Hell Week is a more than five-day training that puts candidates through rigorous training, including cold-water immersion, "surf torture," buoy swims, mud runs, all while operating on minimal sleep.
"The sun goes down, and the instructors come out with big machine guns, that kicks it off," Gum said of how Hell Week began. "We run out to the beach, right into the ocean. You spend the rest of the week soaking wet, covered in sand. And everywhere you go, you have a 200-pound boat on your head that you and your boat crew of six to seven guys will share the weight of, and you just run everywhere."
"You're just in the water. There's no escaping it. It's part of what makes BUD/S BUD/S. And it's part of what makes the Navy SEALs America's premier maritime special operators. There's not getting around how comfortable we have to be in the water. Cold, wet, miserable, doesn't matter, we suck it up and we do it."
Gum received IVs the weekend ahead of Hell Week and was able to keep food and water down by the time the intense training began, but he had been diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis (VGE), commonly known as the stomach flu and highly contagious, which then morphed into rhabdomyolysis due to exerting so much energy while dehydrated from VGE.
Rhabdomyolysis is a serious illness that causes muscle to break down quickly and can lead to "muscle death" and the release of high levels of myoglobin in the blood that can injure a person's kidneys.
Gum failed the first phase of BUD/S, but he was granted permission to return to training for a second time after senior leaders saw he had VGE. Gum again went through the first phase of BUD/S, but again he went to medical, where tests showed that his "blood came back toxic" from rhabdomyolysis.
The SEAL was put on medical leave and able to fully recover in his home state of Pennsylvania before he "crushed" the hellish training on his third try. He served on SEAL Team Five, deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, and taught combatives and prisoner handling to SEAL trainees in San Diego from 2013 until his retirement in 2017.
Sweetman told Fox Digital that "everyone who goes through training is going to get sick."
"They're going to get infections, and it's terrible," Sweetman told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview. "And some might argue that this is Navy SEAL training. You have to go through the toughest conditions to be able to survive and make it. I would say that it's gotten a little bit out of hand."
The SEAL vet, who lives in the San Diego area, said the issue has gotten worse in recent years as Tijuana's population grows.
"When I went through training, it was absolutely a thing that they'd shut down the Imperial Beach because the ocean water was so bad, because the waste coming from Tijuana had infected the water," Sweetman said. "You could always smell it. And oftentimes, even in the bay, we'd need to wash our wet suit after being out on a swim."
"Now, some of the training causes us to be deeply immersed in the water, and infections and all types of things can come up from being in the water. But I'll say that it has gotten significantly worse as the population has doubled in Tijuana."
Gum and Monroe both sounded the alarm that the water issue is a crisis, with Gum identifying it as a national security crisis that could cull well-suited candidates from the SEALs due to acute illnesses as well as sicken active SEALs.
"This is a huge national crisis," he said. "Like half the SEAL teams are located in San Diego, the other half are in Virginia Beach. So when you've got half the SEAL teams who are getting exposed to this, then it's a major issue."
Monroe called it the "next Camp Lejeune" crisis, which sickened Marines with contaminated drinking water at the North Carolina Marine Corps base camp for nearly three decades. The crisis has cost the U.S. billions of dollars, including legal costs and settlements to vets and their families.
"This is going to be, in my opinion, the next Camp Lejeune water problem that cost our government $21 to $25 billion," she said. "That's just in the compensation directly, like the lawsuit portion of it. That doesn't cover all the compensation you have to pay these veterans tax-free for the rest of their lives. I would say that this issue here in San Diego, if you look at it over the time that people have been training here, you're looking at another $21 to $25 billion, plus all of the compensation that's going to come. It would be cheaper for our country to fix this than it would to allow it to continue."
The three veterans who spoke to Fox Digital all responded with optimism that the Trump administration will tackle the crisis and end it.
Fox Digital exclusively reported earlier this month that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is heading to San Diego to meet with SEALs and see the crisis firsthand on Tuesday as locals and veterans sound off about the issue.
"The raw sewage flowing from Mexico into the Tijuana River is creating serious, detrimental issues for communities with affected waterways," Zeldin told Fox Digital ahead of the Tuesday trip.
"Ensuring America’s waters are clean is part of EPA’s core mission, and I look forward to being on the ground in San Diego in a few days to assess the situation and hear directly from those affected," he said. "It is top-of-mind knowing that as this issue persists, more and more Navy SEALs remain at risk of sickness because of the contaminated waterways they train in. I strongly believe the time has come to finalize and implement an urgent strategy to end decades of raw sewage entering the U.S."
A spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare added in a comment to Fox News Digital that SEALs and candidates' health are a top priority and that officials are monitoring water quality in areas where they train.
"The Navy takes the health and safety of our personnel very seriously. Water quality at Navy training locations on the beach waterfront is closely monitored in coordination with local authorities. We are fully committed to ensuring warfighters at U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command train in a safe environment," the spokesperson said.
Ahead of Zeldin's visit, the water flowing from Mexico into the U.S. is as "nasty" as ever, according to Sweetman.
"What I see here is a tremendous amount of green, nasty water," Sweetman said while pointing at the murky water. "I mean, you can smell it. This is disgusting. As it pours through, it doesn't clear up. There's no clarity to it. It just turns into a foam. And the foam sits on top of the water where it's murky and it just continues to flow towards Imperial Beach and the ocean down here."
"It's absolutely disgusting. I can't comment strongly enough about how bad it is to be here. I'm here specifically because I want people to see just how bad it is. The moment that I leave here, I'm going to go take a shower."
FIRST ON FOX:Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin will visit San Diego next week to meet with Navy SEALs and local leaders as he zeroes in on addressing a Mexican sewage problem flowing into waters off the California coast, Fox News Digital learned.
Zeldin will head to San Diego on Tuesday, when he will see firsthand reported sewage flowing from across the border in Tijuana into American waters where Navy SEALs train, an EPA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The EPA administrator will also tour the southern border by helicopter and meet with the SEALs who train in the water filled with sewage.
"Administrator Lee Zeldin will be in San Diego next Tuesday, 4/22, to see this international sewage issue firsthand," the spokesperson said, confirming the trip. "He will be touring the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, participating in a roundtable with local stakeholders and elected officials, taking a helicopter tour of the U.S. Southern border, and meeting with Navy SEALs who train in the area."
"Administrator Zeldin is committed to ensuring every American has access to clean air, land and water, and he looks forward to the opportunity to get out to San Diego next week."
Zeldin first addressed the sewage problem in March before previewing the trip to take the issue head on.
"I was just briefed that Mexico is dumping large amounts of raw sewage into the Tijuana River, and it’s now seeping into the U.S.," he posted to X March 8. "This is unacceptable. Mexico MUST honor its commitments to control this pollution and sewage!"
He previewed in another X post in April that he would travel to the "California-Mexico border in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States."
Local leaders have been sounding the alarm on the sewage problem, including Imperial Beach's Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who sent a letter to Zeldin in March describing how the raw sewage has sparked one of "America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disaster" as billions of gallons have polluted the Pacific Ocean since 2023 alone.
"The toxic sewage coming across the border from Mexico into South San Diego County is among America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disasters," Aguirre's March 3 letter to Zeldin and published online reads. "Since 2023, over 31 billion gallons of raw sewage, polluted stormwater and trash have flowed across the Mexican border, down the Tijuana River, through the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach and into the Pacific Ocean."
The letter called on Zeldin to assist with the crisis by authorizing a new review of the Lower Tijuana River Valley’s sewage crisis for Superfund designation. The crisis has affected tourism, homeowners and the Navy SEALs, who train at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, as well as surrounding beaches in the massive Southern California county.
"Our residents, are getting ill due to polluted air," the letter continued. "Workers, including Navy Seals training in the area, have been sickened on the job by waterborne and aerosolized diseases. Many homeowners have been forced to place air quality monitors on their property so they know whether or not its safe to go outside. And the economic impact is profound, with the sewage crisis hurting area tourism, maritime industry jobs and local property values."
A Department of Defense Inspector General report published Feb. 7 determined that between January 2019 and May 2023, more than 1,000 Navy SEALs and SEAL candidates became sick after training in the water, including with acute gastrointestinal illnesses.
The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, has purged hundreds of books from its library — including "How to be Anti-Racist" by Ibram X. Kendi — as part of a push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-related content.
The Naval Academy weeded out these books on March 31, in keeping with instructions from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, following executive orders from President Donald Trump.
The Naval Academy also threw out another book Kendi authored, "Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America," as well as "Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America," by former Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams.
Kendi, the former founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, attracted national attention in 2020 for his books following the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police officers.
Kendi joined Boston University that year but announced in January that he would head to Howard University to continue his research instead. Meanwhile, Boston University is poised to shut down its research center in June once contracts expire.
The Naval Academy also purged "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by American writer and poet Maya Angelou, an autobiography detailing Angelou’s childhood and life during the Jim Crow era.
Other books booted by the Naval Academy are "Women with Mustaches and Men Without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity" by Afsanah Najmabodi; "Critical Race Theory and Education: A Marxist Response" by Mike Cole; "Men in Wonderland: The Lost Girlhood of the Victorian Gentleman" by Catherine Robson; and "Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex" by Elizabeth Reis.
Although Trump’s January executive orders banned DEI content in K–12 schools receiving federal funds, military service academies were exempt since they are not classified as K–12 institutions.
However, Hegseth’s office instructed the service academy to eliminate the materials ahead of a visit to the institution on April 1, The Associated Press reported. It is unclear if Hegseth issued the directive himself or if it came from a staffer.
The Navy confirmed to Fox News Digital that nearly 400 books were ditched as part of the effort.
"We can confirm the U.S. Naval Academy has removed nearly 400 books from their Nimitz Library collection in order to ensure compliance with all directives outlined in executive orders issued by the president," a Navy spokesperson told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "Nimitz Library houses roughly 590,000 print books, 322 databases, and over 5,000 print journals and magazines to support the academic inquiries and intellectual development of Midshipmen."
The U.S. Naval Academy trains undergraduate midshipmen to pursue careers as officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Here is the full list of books the Naval Academy pitched out during the purge:
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Rachel del Guidice contributed to this report.
The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is pitching almost 400 books from its library, in accordance with directives from the Trump administration to eliminate content related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
"We can confirm the U.S. Naval Academy has removed nearly 400 books from their Nimitz Library collection in order to ensure compliance with all directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President," a Navy spokesperson told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "Nimitz Library houses roughly 590,000 print books, 322 databases, and over 5,000 print journals and magazines to support the academic inquiries and intellectual development of Midshipmen."
A list of the books tossed was not available and no other details were immediately provided.
President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders instructing federal agencies to remove DEI content, including an order in January that barred kindergarten through 12th grade institutions that receive federal funding from including DEI material in their curriculum. But the U.S. military service academies had previously remained exempt because they are not a kindergarten through 12th grade institution.
The Naval Academy’s purge stemmed from an order from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s office, according to the Associated Press – although it’s unclear if Hegseth issued the directive himself or if it came from a staffer.
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital about whether Hegseth’s office directed the order, and if it had instructed the other service academies to purge DEI books from its libraries. Instead, the Pentagon directed Fox News Digital to the U.S. Naval Academy and shared a statement from chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell: "All service academies are fully committed to executing and implementing President Trump’s Executive Orders."
Hegseth has remained vigilant about weeding out DEI programs from the Department of Defense. In January, he announced that the Pentagon would follow all orders from Trump to scrap DEI efforts from the military.
"The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at Dept. of Defense," Hegseth wrote in an X post. "The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays."
The Pentagon’s effort to eliminate DEI from its social media and websites initially prompted the removal of a swath of DOD web pages, including references to the Enola Gay aircraft responsible for dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
However, the Pentagon moved to restore some of these web pages – including ones that referenced Black veterans such as U.S. Army veteran and baseball playerJackie Robinson and the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military aviators in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Meanwhile, the Naval Academy's library scrub comes days after documents from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were made public Friday disclosing that the service academy will not take into account race, ethnicity or sex in admissions to the institution, in response to an executive order Trump issued in January.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that considering race in the higher education admissions process was unconstitutional, however, it provided a caveat for U.S. military academies. Previous legal filings from the Naval Academy said that while race rarely served as a factor in the admissions process, it occasionally did in a "limited fashion."
The U.S. Naval Academy is one of several elite service military academies, and trains undergraduate midshipmen for careers as officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
The Associated Press and Fox News' Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
A U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) can no longer consider race, ethnicity or sex in admissions to the Annapolis, Maryland, service institution, following orders from President Donald Trump.
Vice Adm. Yvette Davids made the policy change Feb. 14, noting "neither race, ethnicity nor sex can be considered as a factor for admission at any point during the admissions process, including qualification and acceptance," according to a court filing by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was made public Friday.
Trump's Jan. 27 executive order stated "every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex" and directed the secretary of defense to conduct an internal review of the country's service academies.
The decision followed a December ruling in federal court allowing the Naval Academy to continue considering race in its admissions process.
Academy attorneys in September argued that prioritizing diversity in the military "makes it stronger, more effective and more widely respected," according to a report from The Associated Press.
Judges in December found "military cohesion and other national security factors" meant the school should not be subjected to the same standards as civilian universities, according to the report.
The appeal was brought by the group Students for Fair Admissions.
The DOJ on Friday requested a suspension of the case as it looked over the change in USNA's policy.
"The parties require a reasonable amount of time to discuss the details of the Academy's new policy and to consider the appropriate next steps for this litigation, including whether this litigation is now moot and, if so, whether the district court judgment should be vacated," the DOJ wrote in the filing.
Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, called the affirmative action policies "unfair and illegal" in a statement to the AP.
"Racial discrimination is wrong and racial classifications have no place at our nation's military academies," Blum wrote.
Maryland Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a Democrat serving on USNA's Board of Visitors, told the AP the decision was "disastrous" and "will have negative implications on our military's recruitment and retention for decades to come."
"A Navy and Marine Corps that reflect the diversity of our country is our strongest Navy and Marine Corps," Elfreth said. "Diversity and inclusion allow our academies to not just reflect how our country looks but are critical to mission readiness and strong national security."
In February, the academy said the school was taking steps to close all agency diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) offices and ending DEIA-related contracts in accordance with Trump’s executive orders.
Though its DEI and DEIA offices were closed since at least the summer of 2024, Davids noted "concerns have been raised that some of these programs may have been modified in a way that obscures their DEIA objectives."
She said if any staff members were aware of changes to obscure the connection between a contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, they should report it to the Office of Personnel Management.
"The U.S. Naval Academy did not have a DEI or DEIA office prior to the President’s executive order that mandated closure of all agency DEIA offices and the end of all DEIA-related contracts," Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesperson, told Fox News.
"The U.S. Naval Academy sent the Jan. 23 email internally to staff simply to inform its personnel that the executive order was issued and USNA would fully comply.
"The Navy is executing and implementing all directives issued by the president with professionalism, efficiency and in full alignment with national security objectives."
Human resources officials also told staff USNA emails should not include gender-identifying pronouns on signature lines.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab extended its collaboration with Regent with an estimated $10 million contract on Wednesday, following the successful completion of a $4.75 million contract.
This new phase of testing will focus on examining its seaglider's capabilities on medical evacuation missions.
For CEO Billy Thalheimer, a new era of global conflict centered on the Indo-Pacific represents a "reversion to World War II-style tactics," and the needs of the Pentagon will be once again focused on maritime operations instead of desert warfare like the war on terror in the Middle East.
Thalheimer said Regent identified the "capability gap" in the logistics of moving troops and supplies between island chains in the Indo-Pacific.
"We want something affordable and mass-produced. We do not have enough boats, the nation is working on our shipbuilding capabilities, we want something easy to operate and easy to crew, because it currently takes two years to train a pilot," he said.
The seaglider travels up to 180 miles at up to 180mph speed. It can take off and land on water, "eliminating the need for vulnerable runway infrastructure," according to the company.
The aircraft is all-electric, which Thalheimer says makes it easier to refuel anywhere there is electricity, rather than having to transport in gas.
"You think about a gallon of fuel today, you know, $6. If we're buying it in the U.S., which can go to 100 to $150 when it's delivered to those, disparate island chains," he said.
Regent’s Viceroy, which holds 12 passengers with a 65-foot wingspan, completed a successful sea test on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay earlier this month.
Regent's "float, foil, fly" motto describes the flight path of the seaglider: First, it floats on the ocean's surface, then as it picks up speed it "foils," meaning it gliders over the water's surface with wing-like structures known as hydrofoils, which then retract as it lifts into the air.
The vehicle leverages "ground effect," avoiding the turbulence of the sky by hovering just around 30 feet in the air.
The glider’s earth-hugging flight path is also designed to avoid enemy radar.
"There's this great opportunity to fly below radar, but really above sonar in this hard-to-see space."
One key mission Regent hopes to fulfill is medical evacuations, given the quick turn-around its seagliders can have from floating on the sea near a port to flying.
Regent has submitted its design basis agreement (DBA) to the Coast Guard for its Viceroy seaglider to the Coast Guard and expects approval next year.
"We are incredibly proud to extend our collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and continue to validate how REGENT’s high-speed, low-signature, low-cost seagliders will enable defense missions," said Tom Huntley, VP of Government Relations and Defense at REGENT. "The second phase of our agreement will demonstrate their use cases for contested logistics operations in the maritime domain, fulfilling a critical national security need."
The company has garnered over $90 million in investment from investors including 8090 Industries, Founders Fund, Japan Airlines and Lockheed Martin.
The Department of the Navy is offering transgender sailors and Marines the option to voluntarily separate from the service by March 28. Otherwise, they risk being booted from the service — cutting the benefits they’re eligible for in half, according to a Thursday memo released by the Department of the Navy.
The policy aligns with an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in January to bar transgender individuals from serving in the military, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s subsequent orders in February instructing each of the service branches to start separating transgender troops within 30 days.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Terence Emmert said in the memo that the Department of the Navy recognizes male and female as the only two sexes, and that "an individual's sex is immutable, unchanging during a person's life."
As a result, Emmert said that those who have a history or "exhibit symptoms consistent with" gender dysphoria may no longer serve in the military and may voluntarily elect to depart the service by March 28. After that date, the Navy will remove sailors and Marines involuntarily from their respective services.
"A history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria or in pursuit of a sex transition is disqualifying for applicants for military service, and incompatible with military service for military personnel," the memo said.
Even so, the Navy said it will not go through medical records or health assessments to identify transgender service members, unless explicitly requested to do so.
Transgender service members who don’t take the Navy up on its offer to voluntarily separate are not eligible for as many benefits post-separation. Those who voluntarily depart from the service will receive double the separation pay as those who are involuntarily removed, according to the Navy’s memo.
For example, the Pentagon said on Feb. 28 that an E-5, a petty officer first class in the Navy, with 10 years of experience, would collect a total of $101,628 in voluntary separation pay, but only $50,814 if that service member were to opt for involuntary separation pay.
Those with less than six years of service, or more than 20 years of service, are not eligible for voluntary separation pay.
"The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) will maximize the use of all available command authorities to ensure impacted personnel are afforded dignity and respect," the Navy’s memo said.
Some exceptions to the rule may apply. The memo said that the Secretary of the Navy may issue waivers for those seeking to remain or join the service on a "case-by-case basis," if there is proof that keeping or recruiting such individuals "directly supports warfighting capabilities."
The Navy referred Fox News Digital to its press release on the order when reached for comment, and did not provide an answer as to how many sailors this order would likely impact.
The Navy released its guidance the same day that a federal judge heard arguments for a lawsuit that LGBTQ legal rights advocacy group GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed in February against the Trump administration, seeking a preliminary injunction pausing the ban while litigation is pending.
U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes is expected to issue a final decision on the preliminary injunction by March 25. GLAD Law did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Lambda Legal also filed a separate lawsuit in February challenging the Trump administration’s order on behalf of six trans service members and asked a federal judge to block the order amid the legal proceedings.
"A dishonorable action from a dishonorable administration," the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Lambda Legal said in a Feb. 27 statement. "This attack on those who have dedicated themselves to serving our country is not only morally reprehensible but fundamentally un-American. Forcing out thousands of transgender servicemembers, who have met every qualification to serve, does not enhance military excellence or make our country safer."
The Human Rights Campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Navy leaders have previously defended LGBTQ service members. For example, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday defended a nonbinary Navy officer assigned to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford featured in a video the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps shared on Instagram about participating in an LGBTQ spoken-word night during deployment.
The video attracted scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who called into question the Navy’s war-fighting priorities. For example, then-Sen. Marco Rubio shared the video on X in April 2023, and said: "While China prepares for war this is what they have our @USNavy focused on."
But Gilday, who retired in August 2023, told Republican lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2023 that he was proud of the officer and that people from all different backgrounds serve in the Navy.
As a result, Gilday said it is incumbent upon Navy leaders to "build a cohesive warfighting team that is going to follow the law, and the law requires that we be able to conduct prompt, sustained operations at sea."
"That level of trust that a commanding officer develops across that unit has to be grounded on dignity and respect," Gilday said in April 2023. "And so, if that officer can lawfully join the United States Navy, is willing to serve and willing to take the same oath that you and I took to put their life on the line, then I’m proud to serve beside them."
FIRST ON FOX:China's dominance over the U.S. in terms of shipbuilding is sending alarms through Capitol Hill, forthcoming legislation suggests.
A bipartisan group of military veterans now serving in the House of Representatives – Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C. – are rolling out a bill aimed at revitalizing the flailing U.S. commercial ship sector.
"This is no drill. A fundamental pillar of America's security, our naval supremacy, is under threat from Communist China," Green told Fox News Digital.
Green said China's Navy was now the largest in the world, surpassing the U.S. with 350 estimated seafaring vessels, compared to 280.
"China has used its fleet to erode freedom of navigation, harass civilian ships, and intimidate our allies," he said. "To maintain our strategic edge, we must invest ‘full speed ahead’ in our maritime industrial base – encompassing commercial shipbuilders, military shipyards, and every link in the supply chain."
The bill would establish a National Commission on the Maritime Industrial Base, and mandate it to launch a probe into the status of American maritime industries, both military and commercial.
The goal would be to develop policy and legislative recommendations to revitalize U.S. shipyards.
Kiggans said shipbuilding was the "backbone" of her coastal Virginia district's economy, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"However, due to workforce and supply chain issues, our maritime industrial base is struggling to keep pace with growing global threats. This Commission is a critical step toward identifying the challenges facing our shipyards and strengthening our ability to build and sustain a world-class fleet," she said.
Davis said, "We must collaborate to ensure that both the public and private sectors work together to find solutions that will strengthen our maritime industrial base. Shipbuilding is vital for our national security."
U.S. competition with China has remained among the most bipartisan issues in Congress, even with the current hyper-partisan environment.
China has nearly 47% of the global market in shipbuilding, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
South Korea and Japan are second and third, with roughly 29% and 17% of the market, respectively. The U.S. has 0.13% of the market.
A single Chinese shipbuilder managed more output by tonnage in 2024 alone than the U.S. has in its entirety since World War II, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which said China's dominance in the sector was a national security risk.
Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti spoke to staff after the Trump administration ousted her and other top leaders at the Pentagon Friday, asserting that the Navy's mission will continue "unabated and undisrupted."
Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described leading the sea service as the "honor of a lifetime" and thanked Navy sailors for their service supporting the U.S.
"We are America’s Warfighting Navy and America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our National security interests, and preserve our way of life," Franchetti, who had served as the Navy's top officer since 2023, said in a Tuesday LinkedIn post that has since been deleted. "We operate from seabed to space, around the globe and around the clock. Our mission continues, unabated and undisrupted…There is no time to waste."
After publication, the Navy clarified that the post was not intended to be shared on social media. A U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told Fox News Digital that the message was sent to a "small group" of staff and senior Navy leaders, but it was not intended to be shared with a wider audience.
"She did not post or direct the message to be posted on LinkedIn," the U.S. official said in a statement. "The message was improperly posted by a junior staffer who had access to the LinkedIn account but did not have authorization to post the content of Admiral Franchetti’s Friday email."
Franchetti joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps as a student at Northwestern University and was commissioned in 1985. She told Navy Times in 2023 that she met other ROTC students at a barbecue during freshman orientation week, who notified her about the scholarship opportunities ROTC provided.
At the time of her commissioning, women were barred from serving on combatant ships and aircraft and were instead assigned to ships like oilers and destroyer tenders. However, Congress repealed the law in 1993 — paving the way for women like Franchetti to serve in top leadership positions in the Navy.
"I joined for free college and books, but I stayed for our mission, the opportunity to serve something greater than myself, and the chance to be part of amazing teams in the world’s most lethal fighting force: America’s Warfighting Navy," Franchetti wrote on LinkedIn.
Ultimately, Franchetti went on to command two carrier strike groups, and served as the deputy commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa and the commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet, which falls under U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa.
Other leaders the Trump administration removed Friday included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requested nominations to replace Franchetti and Slife, and said that both had "distinguished careers."
"We thank them for their service and dedication to our country," Hegseth said in a Friday statement.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby announced that he would take over responsibilities as the top officer in the Navy until a permanent replacement was found for Franchetti.
"The work of our Navy continues without disruption," Kilby said in a statement Saturday. "We will sustain forward-deployed lethal forces that enhance the peace and deter our adversaries."
The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. It remains unclear where Franchetti will be reassigned.
Hegseth didn’t provide any additional comment on Franchetti or her career, but previously described her as a "DEI hire" in his 2024 book, "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free."
Hegseth also announced Friday that President Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine to replace Brown, claiming that Caine embodies the "warfighter ethos" the U.S. military needs.
"Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars," Hegseth said.
Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti is speaking out after the Trump administration ousted her and other top leaders at the Pentagon Friday, asserting that the Navy's mission will continue "unabated and undisrupted."
Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described leading the sea service as the "honor of a lifetime" and thanked Navy sailors for their service supporting the U.S.
"We are America’s Warfighting Navy and America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our National security interests, and preserve our way of life," Franchetti, who had served as the Navy's top officer since 2023, said in a Tuesday LinkedIn post. "We operate from seabed to space, around the globe and around the clock. Our mission continues, unabated and undisrupted…There is no time to waste."
Franchetti joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps as a student at Northwestern University and was commissioned in 1985. She told Navy Times in 2023 that she met other ROTC students at a barbecue during freshman orientation week, who notified her about the scholarship opportunities ROTC provided.
At the time of her commissioning, women were barred from serving on combatant ships and aircraft and were instead assigned to ships like oilers and destroyer tenders. However, Congress repealed the law in 1993 — paving the way for women like Franchetti to serve in top leadership positions in the Navy.
"I joined for free college and books, but I stayed for our mission, the opportunity to serve something greater than myself, and the chance to be part of amazing teams in the world’s most lethal fighting force: America’s Warfighting Navy," Franchetti wrote on LinkedIn.
Ultimately, Franchetti went on to command two carrier strike groups, and served as the deputy commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa and the commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet, which falls under U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa.
Other leaders the Trump administration removed Friday included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requested nominations to replace Franchetti and Slife, and said that both had "distinguished careers."
"We thank them for their service and dedication to our country," Hegseth said in a Friday statement.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby announced that he would take over responsibilities as the top officer in the Navy until a permanent replacement was found for Franchetti.
"The work of our Navy continues without disruption," Kilby said in a statement Saturday. "We will sustain forward-deployed lethal forces that enhance the peace and deter our adversaries."
The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. It remains unclear where Franchetti will be reassigned.
Hegseth didn’t provide any additional comment on Franchetti or her career, but previously described her as a "DEI hire" in his 2024 book, "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free."
Hegseth also announced Friday that President Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine to replace Brown, claiming that Caine embodies the "warfighter ethos" the U.S. military needs.
"Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars," Hegseth said.
President-elect Donald Trump, fed up with the U.S.' lagging ship-building capabilities, offered an out-of-character solution to the problem: Outsource production if the U.S. can’t keep up.
"We’re going to do something with ships. We need ships. And we may have to go a different route than you would normally go," the incoming president suggested to radio host Hugh Hewitt.
"We don’t build ships anymore. We used to build a ship a day. We don’t build ships anymore. We want to get that started. And maybe we’ll use allies, also, in terms of building ships. We might have to."
"China’s building, from what I’m hearing, every four days, they’re knocking out a ship. We’re sitting back and watching, and we’ve suffered tremendously."
Trump’s stance is sure to put the domestic shipbuilding industry and labor groups on alert. But it comes as China’s shipbuilding capacity is more than 232 times greater than that of the U.S., and the Navy has for decades struggled to build ships on time.
And it's a divergence from his campaign promise to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., and trigger a blanket tariff on global imports into the U.S., along with a 60% tariff on all goods imported from China.
China’s navy is the largest in the world, with more than 370 ships and submarines. The U.S.' battle force includes 295 vessels, including 11 active aircraft carriers. In 2017, Congress passed a law requiring the Navy to keep and maintain 355 ships.
Without disclosing details, Trump hinted at a plan to grow the Navy's ship fleet.
"We’re going to be announcing some things that are going to be very good having to do with the Navy. We need ships. We have to get ships. And you know, everybody said, ‘Oh, we’ll build them.’ We may have to go to others, bid them out, and it’s okay to do that. We’ll bid them out until we get ourselves ready," he said.
The U.S. also lags in nuclear submarines, according to military experts. The U.S.’ nuclear submarines reached a Cold War high of 140, according to Jerry Hendrix, retired Navy captain and senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute, in an op-ed for American Affairs.
"The bottom line is that the American submarine force, the ‘point of the spear’ of American power, upon which so many military plans depend, is unprepared to meet the current threat environment, and there are no quick fixes. It has taken decades—and a sequence of bad assumptions and poor decisions—to fall into the current state of unpreparedness," he wrote.
The most recent figures show the U.S. submarine flight at 68, only 50 of which are classified in the hunter-killer "fast attack" category.
Currently, China controls 46.59% of the global shipbuilding market. South Korea comes in second at 29.24%, and Japan third with 17.25%. The U.S. has a relatively insignificant control of the market at 0.13%. And it costs roughly twice as much to build a ship in the U.S. as it does elsewhere in the world.
Congress' $895 billion annual defense policy bill authorized $33.5 billion for new ships and submarines.
According to a Navy report last year, several key shipbuilding programs are years behind schedule, in large part due to a lack of workers.
Trump also called out management of the Navy’s Constellation-class frigate program, blaming Biden-era officers for "playing around and tinkering," adding to costs.
Speaking with Hewitt, Trump seemed to refer to a deal the Pentagon struck with the American arm of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the new class of ships in 2020.
"And they were going and really doing a good job, and the generals, you know, the Biden admirals and generals and all of the people that are involved, they started playing around and tinkering and changing the design, and this, you know, that costs. That costs a lot of money," Trump said.
"But the generals or the admirals went in, and they said, ‘Oh, why don’t we make it a little bit wider? Why don’t we do this? Why don’t we do that?’ And it was designed specifically for speed and other things. When you start making it wider, you start making it slower," Trump continued.
"We had it down, and they made changes. They always have to make changes. You know, these guys get in there, and they think they’re smart, and in many cases, unfortunately, they’re not smart, and they take something, and they make it worse for a lot more."
Then-President Ronald Reagan had a 600-ship goal for the Navy when he assumed office, dedicated to rebuilding the nation's fleet after the Vietnam War. But his administration also terminated a subsidy for shipbuilding that decimated the commercial market, meaning U.S. shipyards were solely dedicated to meeting the needs of the military.
As millions of Americans gather together with loved ones to celebrate the Christmas holiday and ring in the new year, hundreds of thousands of American men and women in uniform will mark the holidays away from family in decidedly less festive corners of the world.
As of June, 165,830 U.S. service members were on deployment across the Middle East, Indo-Pacific region and Europe. That figure has likely ticked higher amid recent unrest across the Middle East, and it doesn’t include service members working at U.S. bases over the holidays and civilian personnel on overseas contracts.
Here’s a look at where service members will spend the holidays on deployment across the world:
Around 43,000 troops are stationed across the Middle East as of October, an increase from the usual 34,000 amid the recent unrest and outbreak of war between Israel and Iranian proxy forces Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Pentagon announced in October it would be moving troops into Cyprus to prepare for escalating unrest in Lebanon. And last week the Pentagon divulged that some 2,100 troops were in Syria — not the 900 they had long claimed. Another 1,000 troops are in Iraq carrying out missions to thwart ISIS.
U.S. forces are stationed across Europe to support NATO forces and deter any potential Russian aggression.
Major areas of deployment include Germany (34,894), Italy (12,319) and the United Kingdom (10,180).
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin thanked U.S. troops for serving over the holiday season in a Christmas message.
"We know firsthand the holidays can be especially hard if you're far away from your loved ones. So for our troops stationed around the globe, we deeply appreciate your sacrifice," he said. "We know that your families serve too, and our military families are the foundation of America's strength."
The Pentagon is in the process of fitting the first-ever shipborn hypersonic missile system to a U.S. stealth destroyer once considered to be defunct.
The USS Zumwalt is stationed at a Mississippi shipyard as it undergoes the retrofit. The U.S. Navy is installing missile tubes towards the vessel's bow, where two inactive gun turrets were once positioned. The turrets had never been activated due to cost.
"It was a costly blunder. But the Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here, and get some utility out of them by making them into a hypersonic platform," Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, said of the Zumwalt's retrofit.
The development comes as the U.S. competes with Russia and China to develop and implement new hypersonic weapons technologies.
Hypersonic missiles hold a key advantage in contemporary warfare because they travel at such high speed that missile defense systems cannot reliably shoot them down.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to target Ukrainian government buildings in Kyiv with hypersonic missiles last week. Such missiles are also believed to be capable of reaching the U.S. West Coast.
Putin's announcement came after President Biden approved Ukraine to use U.S.-made ATACMs missiles on targets in Russian territory.
"Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on November 21," Putin told a meeting of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries in Kazakhstan.
"At present, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defense and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centers in Kyiv," he said.
Putin claims Russia's production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of the NATO military alliance by 10 times, and that Moscow planned to ramp up production further.
