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Who is Lisa Franchetti and how did she rise to become Chief of Naval Operations?
Lisa Franchetti grew up in Rochester, New York, attended Northwestern University, and joined the Navy after being recruited on campus. She rose through every level of naval command — a destroyer, two aircraft carrier strike groups, and naval forces in Korea — before President Biden overruled his own Secretary of Defense to make her the first female Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of 184 Women in a Navy That Didn't Yet Let Her Fight
When Franchetti entered the Navy in 1989, she was one of just 184 female surface warfare officers in the entire United States Navy. Women were still legally barred from combat roles. The path upward was structurally closed.
That changed in the early 1990s, when President Clinton lifted the combat exclusion ban. Franchetti was among the first generation of women who could now compete for the commands that define a naval career. She commanded the USS Ross, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer — the backbone of the surface fleet.
From there, she commanded two aircraft carrier strike groups and became the first woman to command naval forces in Korea in 2013. As Greg Jaffe details in The Daily, this was a career built step by step through the highest-stakes commands the Navy offers.
Biden Overruled His Own Pentagon to Put Her on the Joint Chiefs
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin preferred Sam Paparo for the role of Chief of Naval Operations. President Biden disagreed and selected Franchetti instead. The Senate confirmed her 95 to 1 — a margin that reflects near-total bipartisan consensus, rare in any era.
She became the first woman to hold the title of Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman to sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This wasn't a symbolic appointment: she had commanded U.S. Fleet Forces Command and was among the most operationally experienced officers in the Navy.
Jaffe's reporting in this episode of The Daily frames Franchetti's case as a direct window into how Pete Hegseth has since approached senior military leadership — and what criteria he is applying when he decides who stays and who goes.
"When you start firing people for political reasons, it's not just the person you fire, but it's the message that sends throughout the entire force that if you want to move up, there are political litmus tests that you have to pass through."
Greg Jaffe — Staff Writer and Military Correspondent, The New York Times
Jaffe has covered the U.S. military since 1999, a span of 26 years during which he has tracked wars, leadership transitions, and institutional change across multiple administrations. He co-reported this story with colleague Kate Kelly. On Hegseth's reshaping of the officer corps — which has involved firing or blocking promotions for 65 to 70 people, roughly 10 percent of all generals and admirals — Jaffe says flatly that he cannot think of anything remotely close to this scale in the entire time he has covered the military. His work on Franchetti is part of a broader investigation into The Daily examining how a single job became a case study for Hegseth's approach to military leadership.
See also
How many generals and admirals has Pete Hegseth fired or blocked from promotions since becoming Secretary of Defense?
According to Greg Jaffe and his colleague Kate Kelly, Hegseth has fired more than a dozen generals and admirals since taking over as secretary. Combined with those blocked from earned promotions, the total reaches 65 to 70 people — approximately 10 percent of the entire general officer corps.
What role did Françoise Dolto play in shaping French parenting philosophy?
Françoise Dolto was a psychoanalyst who profoundly shaped generations of French parenting through her books and a popular radio program. She is credited with fundamentally changing how French parents think about child development and communication.
What is 'parental pessimism' and how does it reflect the broader social context of French parenting today?
A sociologist studying parenting in France coined the term "parental pessimism" to describe the stress and overwhelm French parents feel because, while they hold high ideals about parenting, the social and institutional support to meet those ideals has not kept pace.
Key takeaways
- Franchetti entered a Navy with only 184 female surface warfare officers in 1989 — and could not legally serve in combat roles until Clinton lifted the ban in the 1990s.
- Her career included command of the USS Ross, two aircraft carrier strike groups, and U.S. naval forces in Korea — the full ladder of operational leadership.
- Biden overrode Lloyd Austin's preference for Sam Paparo; the Senate then confirmed Franchetti 95 to 1, making her the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
- As Jaffe explains in The Daily, her case became the clearest illustration of how Hegseth is redefining which careers count as merit — and which do not.
This answer comes from a real episode of The Daily. Hear the full conversation with Greg Jaffe on Listenly.
Listen to the episode on Listenly