Trump replaces Admiral in charge of Office of Naval Research with a 33-year old Rhodes Scholar & DOGE alum with no military experience

A major leadership shake-up has unfolded at the Office of Naval Research (ONR): Rear Admiral Kurt Rothenhaus, who had served as chief since June 2023 overseeing the Office’s multi-billion-dollar research grant portfolio, has been replaced by Rachel Riley, a 33-year-old former consultant and bureaucrat with no apparent naval or engineering background. 

Riley previously worked as a partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and joined the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year under the umbrella of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.” During her stint at HHS she spearheaded plans to eliminate nearly 8,000 positions, including a proposal to cut over 4,500 staffers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), though those cuts were largely blocked. 

HHS has confirmed Riley’s move to ONR, expressing appreciation for her work in “improving and right-sizing” the agency’s structure and programs. Meanwhile, Rothenhaus has been reassigned to an unspecified role. The appointment of Riley is especially notable because ONR—established by Congress in 1946 to direct Navy and Marine Corps research efforts—has traditionally been led by a senior science or engineering flag officer with extensive domain experience. 

Riley’s background includes winning a Rhodes Scholarship, growing up in South Carolina, and working eight and a half years at McKinsey. Her LinkedIn profile indicates she joined HHS in January and has handled “a range of confidential projects” since the inauguration. 

Her time at HHS was contentious: agency insiders described her as difficult to work with, and key leaders voiced concerns about her secretive handling of data files tied to the layoffs and the proposed structural overhaul of NIH’s grant-review division. 

This move carries risk. Critics contend that placing someone without proven naval research and engineering credentials in charge of a $2.5 billion research budget may upset the research and science community, and raise questions about the direction of the Navy’s innovation program.

Source: THE HILL