Army Secretary Dan Driscoll Expected to Step Down by Year's End After Feud With Hegseth
Key Takeaways
- •Dan Driscoll was confirmed as Army secretary by the Senate in February and is now expected to step down by year-end.
- •He publicly said in April that he had no intention of resigning, before the situation later reversed.
- •The reported dispute with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth included the removal of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.
- •Driscoll's exit would leave the Army without a Senate-confirmed top civilian leader, requiring an acting official until a successor is confirmed.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to leave his post by the end of the year — an outcome that seemed unlikely just four months ago, when he publicly insisted he was going nowhere.
Driscoll, a former Army Ranger and close friend of Vice President JD Vance, was confirmed by the Senate only in February. He is expected to step down by year's end, if not sooner, after months of bruising tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the discussions. Spokesmen for the Pentagon and for Driscoll declined to comment.
The expected departure marks a striking reversal from April, when the feud between the two officials spilled into public view and Driscoll declared: "I have no plans to depart or resign as the Secretary of the Army."
Hegseth reportedly viewed Driscoll — who was once floated as a potential replacement for Hegseth himself — as a threat. After the White House told Hegseth he could not fire the well-connected secretary, he went after Driscoll's allies instead. In April, Hegseth abruptly forced out Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in a phone call lasting less than a minute, offering no explanation, while Driscoll was away in North Carolina. George's ouster echoed the broader wave of senior officer dismissals that marked the opening months of Hegseth's tenure, which included Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Over the summer, Driscoll and his family moved out of the stately home reserved for the Army secretary near Arlington and relocated to North Carolina — a state with long personal ties, as Driscoll ran for a House seat there in 2020, losing the Republican primary to Madison Cawthorn — with Driscoll moving into a smaller apartment on base.
His exit would leave the Army without a Senate-confirmed leader in the middle of Trump's war with Iran. The Army secretary is the service's top civilian official, overseeing budgets, personnel, and equipment for the largest branch of the U.S. military by headcount, and a permanent successor would require Senate confirmation — leaving an acting official in charge in the meantime.
The news comes after the president sang Driscoll's praises at a defense conference last month.
"With that beautiful smile, but he's actually a killer," Trump said. "He's a killer. Would you believe it? Those are the best guys, actually."
