Secretary Carlos Del Toro

Born in Havana, Cuba, the Honorable Carlos Del Toro immigrated to the U.S. with his family as refugees in 1962. Raised in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer upon his graduation in 1983. His 26-year naval career included a series of critical appointments at sea and ashore, including command as the Commissioning Commanding Officer of USS BULKELEY (DDG 84) and service in a combat zone during Operation Desert Storm. After retiring from active-duty service, in 2004, Secretary Del Toro continued to support a range of government and private sector programs by founding SBG Technology Solutions, Inc., an engineering services company focused on space systems engineering, telecommunications, health IT, cybersecurity, AI and numerous other program management services.

Sworn in as the 78th Secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps on August 9, 2021, Secretary Del Toro identified and advanced three Enduring Priorities: Strengthening Maritime Dominance, Building a Culture of Warfighting Excellence, and Enhancing Strategic Partnerships. He led the nearly 1-million person Department through the largest modernization effort in half a century concurrent with the longest sustained surface-to-air naval combat operations since World War II in the Red Sea. Under his leadership, the Department of the Navy sought and commanded the largest budget in recent history, growing it over twenty-five percent over four years.

Secretary Del Toro implemented an aggressive and innovative strategy to strengthen maritime dominance across near and long-term horizons. He called for and delivered on a vision of a new National Maritime Statecraft, rallying whole-of-government support to begin the revitalization of American comprehensive maritime power, both commercial and naval. He advocated tirelessly for a paradigm-shifting injection of world-class technology, best practices, and cutting-edge competition into the U.S. shipbuilding marketplace through investment in American shipyards by leading global shipbuilders. Secretary Del Toro advanced efforts to ensure that the Department secured in the acquisition process the rights to technical data that will sharply reduce the cost of future sustainment of multiple major surface and air platforms. Additionally, he championed logistics innovations that would make the Navy’s existing fleet more present and lethal, including the Transferrable Rearming Mechanism to reload the Vertical Launching Systems of the Navy’s warships while underway in open-ocean.

Understanding that people are the foundational success of the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps, Secretary Del Toro focused on building a culture of warfighting excellence. As the only Secretary of the Navy to graduate from the Naval War College, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Naval Academy, Secretary Del Toro had a firsthand appreciation for the role of those institutions in developing strategic leaders. He made historic investments in Navy and Marine Corps Professional Military Education, established the Naval Innovation Center at the Naval Postgraduate School and the Marine Innovation Unit to encourage innovation and experimentation, and reinvigorated the Department of the Navy’s strategic culture and strategy development workforce.

With the conviction that it is never too late to do the right thing, Secretary Del Toro also made historic personnel decisions, exonerating 256 defendants from the 1944 Port Chicago General and Summary Courts-martial in a triumph of long-overdue justice, as just one example.

With his deep knowledge of and commitment to meaningful and impactful naval diplomacy, Secretary Del Toro was integral to enhancing strategic partnerships at a critical juncture in the geopolitical landscape to deter the Nation’s adversaries including our pacing threat, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, as well as other global terrorist organizations. Secretary Del Toro oversaw the generational AUKUS agreement designed to deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and increase technology sharing between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia; the sale of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles to Japan; and shepherded critical support to Ukraine that enabled successful operations against Russia’s unprovoked invasion at sea and ashore. He also recognized Climate Change as an existential threat to naval operations and spearheaded soft power engagement in Pacific Island nations to include the rollout of the Department of the Navy Climate Action 2030 plan. He leveraged innovative uncrewed maritime solutions globally to strengthen maritime domain awareness and expand international partnerships.

As only the second Secretary of the Navy to have ever commanded a warship while serving on active duty, Secretary Del Toro’s care for Sailors, Marines, and Military Sealift Command Mariners guided his investments in Sailor and Marine-driven initiatives and helped lift retention to historically high levels. His efforts earned him wide admiration from the Sailors and Marines he served.

Today, Secretary Del Toro is also President & CEO of Del Toro Global Associates, LLC. Secretary Del Toro and his wife Betty have four children and four grandchildren.