Elections Cloud Future For Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro

[Tony]

After a year in office, U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro cuts a tragic figure in Washington. Frustrated, bereft of any real authority, and barely able to even hire his own team to staff the Navy’s front office, Del Toro’s remaining tenure may well be measured in months.

Del Toro has little hope of clawing his way into relevance anytime soon. Battered by an ongoing bureaucratic battle with Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks over basic authorities and the shape of the future fleet, beset by a frozen budget and a scandal-prone fleet, the Navy secretary sits becalmed in an embarrassing bureaucratic limbo.