The 32nd Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)

Adm. Michael Gilday

The 32nd Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)

Responsibilities

• Admiral Michael Gilday is the highest-ranking officer in the Navy, reporting to Kenneth Braithwaite, Navy Secretary.
• Appointed in August, 2019, Gilday, then a three-star general, vaulted over a slate of four-star CNO candidates, landing the role as the head of Navy operations.
• In addition to his other duties, Gilday is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Military Career

• Gilday has commanded cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carriers, and deployed in the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas.
• Commanded the Destroyer Squadron 7 and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group 8 (2015).
• Sea combat commander of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (2013-2014).
• After his service in the 2nd Gulf War against Iraq, Gilday held joint, senior leadership positions that included: director of operations for NATO’s Joint Force Command in Lisbon; and chief of staff for Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO.
• Promoted to Vice Admiral in 2016. Led U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet at Fort Meade, working alongside the National Security Agency to gather intelligence in cyberspace. As part of his duties, he managed the Navy’s global telecommunication systems.
• Naval aide to former presidents Clinton and George W. Bush (1998-2003). Traveled with both men on Air Force One, carrying the thermonuclear launch codes known as “nuclear football.”

Background

Education

• National War College.
• Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University – Master’s Degree.
• U.S. Naval Academy – Graduated as a Surface Warfare Officer (1985).

Personal

• A native New Englander, Michael Martin Gilday was born October 10, 1962, in Lowell, MA, the son of Frances and Gerald Gilday. His father served as a Navy sailor. Four siblings.
• Married to Linda Gilday. They have two sons.

Awards

• Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal (four awards), Legion of Merit (three awards), Bronze Star, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “V,” and the Combat Action Ribbon, among others.
• By all reports, Gilday is a humble man who quietly removed his name from the 1991 list of individuals slated for decoration after the USS Princeton, the guided-missile cruiser upon which he was serving, struck two of the 1,000 mines strung off the Kuwaiti shoreline during the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Gilday, who was tactical action officer at the time, was commended by the ship commander for his bravery and level-headedness.