Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during the Trump administration. Driscoll and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s working relationship had endured months of tension during his time in the job, reported and CNN. No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported.
It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval. "The United States Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of War,” she added. Army official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Driscoll spoke with President Donald Trump on the current state of the Army and submitted his resignation.
The official did not provide additional details. The Pentagon referred questions to the Army. Driscoll's resignation was reported earlier Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
Hegseth suddenly ousted the service's top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George, in April, while the Army’s commander in Europe and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue, unexpectedly stepped down in June.
Christopher LaNeve, who has made a meteoric rise under Hegseth, took George's place as the Army’s acting chief of staff. Under LaNeve, the service is pulling the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had heralded. An Army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before LaNeve directed it to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion, officials said in August.
Driscoll was a George ally and lamented his departure, along with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. He told Congress in April that he and his family drove to George's house following his resignation “and we all gave him a hug.” “That being said, the civilian leadership, the design of our system, is that they get to pick the leaders that they want," Driscoll added. Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to Vance, whom Driscoll met at Yale Law School.
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