Thomas B. Modly (born December 15, 1960) is an American businessman and former government official who served as acting United States Secretary of the Navy from November 24, 2019, to April 7, 2020.

[1][2] He resigned as acting Secretary in the wake of his firing and berating Brett Crozier, the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, for allegedly going outside his chain of command in calling for help to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

[10] He has held various leadership positions at Iconixx, Oxford Associates, and UNC Inc.,[11] and taught political science at the United States Air Force Academy.

[14][15] As Acting Secretary of the Navy, Modly advocated for building a larger fleet beyond the 355 ship goal established by Congress.

[19]) The letter criticized the Navy's management of a COVID-19 outbreak on board the Theodore Roosevelt,[20] and recommended decisive action to deal with it.

On April 2, 2020, while serving as Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly dismissed Captain Crozier from command of the Theodore Roosevelt.

Modly said he had lost confidence in Crozier's judgment because he claimed the letter went against the advice of Admiral Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, who argued that usual Navy procedures would require an investigation before such an action.

"[29] In other parts of Modly's speech, he told the sailors: "you're not required to love" Crozier, and that the only thing they should expect from their leaders is to "treat you fairly and put the mission of the ship first".

The following week they sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper calling for Modly to be fired because of his comments to sailors aboard the Theodore Roosevelt and his decision to relieve Crozier.

[42] Several other Democratic members of Congress, including Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, joined in the call for Modly's resignation or removal.