Driscoll’s resignation as Army secretary leaves a gap in service’s senior leadership

WASHINGTON — Dan Driscoll’s departure as Army secretary after 18 months leaves a gap in the service’s senior leadership.

Driscoll’s resignation leaves the Army without a Senate-confirmed leader as the Iran war stretches into its seventh month. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted Gen. Randy George as the Army’s chief of staff in April, and a successor has not been named.

Sen. Jack Reed, of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, thanked Driscoll for his service but added “I do not welcome” his resignation.

“His departure leaves the Army without its top civilian and uniformed leaders, and a military service whose leadership ranks have been gutted by Secretary Hegseth,” Reed said in a statement. “It is far past time for President [Donald] Trump to recognize the lasting harm that Pete Hegseth is inflicting on the Department of Defense. Secretary Hegseth is cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance.”

Driscoll submitted his resignation to Trump on Monday.

“Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army by providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, restoring an emphasis on readiness and lethality, assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and more,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The United States Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of War.”

No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but it comes after months of friction with Hegseth.

The Army did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Driscoll did not respond to a phone call.

During a White House meeting last week, Driscoll brought his concerns about the future of the Army under Hegseth directly to Trump, according to a report in The Atlantic.

Trump was surprised when Driscoll told him how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out or passed over for promotion under Hegseth, according to the report. Driscoll argued that the Army could not transform itself the way it needs to because of leadership departures. A source added that Trump expressed concern about the deep cuts to the Army’s senior leadership.

Driscoll worked closely with George during his tenure as the two pushed to prepare the service for the future of warfare, in part by adapting lessons from the war in Ukraine.

The Army secretary had mulled leaving as soon as Labor Day, NBC News reported. And unidentified sources told several outlets that he and his family have already moved out of their official residence on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., near Arlington National Cemetery.

Since Hegseth relieved George without publicly citing a reason, the role has been filled in an acting capacity by Army vice chief of staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve, a combat veteran and former senior military aide to Hegseth. LaNeve received his fourth star in February.

LaNeve is widely expected to be Hegseth’s choice for Army chief of staff. However, media reports last month suggested that LaNeve may face stiff resistance in Congress, including among Republicans.

Driscoll’s departure comes after Hegseth ousted several other generals and admirals, including Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations; and the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In October, Adm. Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, announced his retirement less than a year into his tenure.

In July, Gen. Christopher Donahue, the four-star general who headed U.S. Army Europe and Africa, stepped down.

In April, the Pentagon abruptly announced that Navy Secretary John Phelan was leaving leaving the post, becoming the first head of a military service to depart during Trump’s second term.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell at the time announced Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao would become acting secretary of the Navy.

Though the Army and Pentagon have not said who will be the acting secretary, Parnell, a trusted adviser to Hegseth, has been reported to be considered as the Army’s next top civilian leader.

In April, The Hill reported that Parnell privately expressed interest in the position.

Driscoll served in the Army for 3½ years as a cavalry scout platoon leader, including a deployment to Iraq in 2009. He attended Yale Law School on the GI Bill, where he met Vance.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Driscoll noted that he was a third-generation soldier, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

In 2020, he ran for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district but lost in a primary race to former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

Driscoll, during his tenure, said he would not tolerate sending soldiers into a modern conflict with decades-old weapons.

In May 2025, Driscoll and George announced the Army Transformation Initiative.

This included cutting 1,000 jobs from its main headquarters, shrinking attack helicopter formations and lightening the load for infantry brigades, as well as preparing soldiers for a battlefield where drones and emerging technologies are expected to dominate.

“No one can predict the next war, but we cannot wait — we cannot f------ wait to innovate until Americans are dying on the battlefield,” Driscoll said in his keynote speech last year at the outset of the annual Association of the United States Army convention in Washington. “We must act now to enable our soldiers. Our window to change is right now, and we have a plan to do it.”

Driscoll demanded that Congress and arms developers allow the Army to quickly adopt new technology in communications, artificial intelligence, drones and robotics outside of the traditional acquisition system that has proven slow and expensive.

The Army’s top leaders traveled together to Kyiv in November to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about peace talks with Russia. They also met with drone operators.

The Army has already seen reshuffling since LaNeve became the service’s top uniformed leader.

The service is phasing out a drone assault battalion established in Europe to study lessons from the war in Ukraine as LaNeve pushes a “back-to-basics” approach, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“The next war will not look like our last. Yet there are timeless truths in war,” the acting chief wrote to the force in a directive published on Aug. 19. “The battlefield does not forgive weakness. Land combat in the modern era will demand every ounce of rigor, endurance and courage we possess. Every shortcut in training and lapse in discipline will be paid for in blood.”