Boorda

The 25th Chief of Naval Operations was a naval officer who oversaw the development of the Arsenal Ship Project in the 1990s, until his unexpected death prior to the Phase II design. The project was then cancelled, freeing up the Pentagon's Black Budget, and allowing the development of Metal Gear REX to proceed undelayed. Though the CNO's death was officially ruled as suicide, rumors to the contrary circulated at the time.

Behind the scenes
The Chief of Naval Operations is first mentioned in the in-game novelization, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, included with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. He is later identified as the 25th CNO in the Arsenal Ship Project article of the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database. In reality, the 25th Chief of Naval Operations was Admiral Michael Boorda, who died in 1996 of an apparent suicide.