“I have the utmost confidence in her ability to impact the service in such positive and lasting ways, and I am excited to watch her in action,” Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Friday after the Navy tapped Capt. Tamara Lawrence as its next chief of information.
A captain chosen, not a rear admiral
The Navy’s decision to install an O-6 — Capt. Tamara Lawrence — in the service’s chief of information billet breaks with recent practice in which the job was traditionally held by a rear admiral. The announcement framed the appointment as one that will shape “how the Navy communicates, now and into the future,” language used by Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao when introducing Lawrence’s selection.
Tamara Lawrence: education and operational tours
The Navy’s public announcement lists Lawrence’s educational credentials and prior assignments. She graduated from Duke University and holds graduate degrees from San Diego State University and the National War College. Her service record includes tours at commands such as Naval Special Warfare Command and US Naval Forces Europe and Africa Joint Force. At the time of the selection she was serving as the acting chief of information.
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End the scrambleHow the selection process shifted — MS Now reported changes in July
The choice follows reporting in July by MS Now that the Navy had altered the eligibility criteria for the chief of information post. Under the newly described process, the Navy considered active-duty and reserve Navy captains and Marine Corps colonels for the job. MS Now noted that previously only active‑duty captains with at least three years of experience were viewed as eligible — a path that included the respective advancement to rear admiral. The Navy told MS Now the change was implemented to widen the pool of eligible candidates.
Official responsibilities: advisor to Cao and Adm. Daryl Caudle, and service‑wide guidance
The Navy’s announcement spelled out the responsibilities that will fall to Lawrence as chief of information. She will serve as an advisor to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle. The post will also task her with developing “service‑wide guidance about how the Navy will uphold its responsibility to communicate openly and transparently with the public,” according to the Navy statement.
How Navy public affairs, senior leaders, and potential candidates are affected
- Navy public affairs teams: They will look to the new chief of information for updated, service‑wide guidance on transparency and external communications, since the Navy announced that developing that guidance is a primary responsibility of the role.
- Senior Navy leadership (Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and Adm. Daryl Caudle): The chief of information is explicitly an advisor to both, positioning Lawrence to influence how the service coordinates communications at the highest levels.
- Potential applicants in the Navy and Marine Corps: The revised eligibility criteria that allowed active‑duty and reserve Navy captains and Marine Corps colonels to be considered expands the candidate pool, a change the Navy told MS Now was intended to broaden options for the post.
The appointment of Capt. Tamara Lawrence — along with the procedural changes reported in July — marks a concrete alteration in how the Navy fills a senior communications post. She arrives at a moment when the service has publicly framed the chief of information’s work as central to shaping and sustaining the Navy’s approach to openness and transparency. How that guidance will be crafted, and whether the O‑6 staffing model for the job persists beyond this selection, are matters the Navy has signaled but not detailed in its announcement.
