Conflict in Pentagon leadership escalates: US Secretary of the Army resigns
Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump after months of severe tension with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and a wave of dismissals of senior officers. His departure leads to an unprecedented situation where the U.S. Army is left without a single leader, civilian or military, confirmed by the Senate.
U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to U.S. President Donald Trump and is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The resignation comes at the peak of a deep crisis in the security leadership in Washington. According to sources familiar with the details, the move stems from long months of acute tension between Driscoll and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth regarding the direction the army is taking, and especially against the backdrop of a purge and dismissal campaign of many senior officers led by Hegseth.
In April, Hegseth fired the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, and President Donald Trump has yet to appoint a replacement. Temporarily, George's deputy, General Christopher Lanive, who previously served as Hegseth's senior military advisor, is currently serving as the acting Chief of Staff.
During the last few months, Driscoll and his family vacated the large family home designated for the Secretary of the Army at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall — a military base near Arlington Cemetery where several senior defense officials reside. According to the report, his family moved to North Carolina during the summer, while Driscoll moved to a smaller apartment on the base.
During his 18 months as Secretary of the Army, Driscoll developed a close partnership with General Randy George, whom Hegseth fired. Together, the two pushed the army to adopt new technologies, viewing them as the future of the battlefield. The two even traveled to Ukraine together with General Chris Donahue, former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, so that Driscoll could speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about peace negotiations.
Driscoll encouraged the military branch to act more similarly to the Ukrainian army regarding finding ways to use civilian-commercial technology on the battlefield. Under his tenure, private companies committed to investing over $25 billion in establishing data centers, refineries for critical minerals, and dining facilities on military bases across the country.
An army without confirmed leadership
Driscoll's departure puts the U.S. Army into an unprecedented management vacuum. As of now, the branch will be left without a single leader – not at the civilian level and not at the military level – who holds official confirmation from the Senate. Currently, the person serving as acting commander of the army is General Christopher Lanive.
Despite the tense circumstances of the departure, the White House chose to project business as usual and showered praise on the outgoing secretary.
"Secretary Driscoll was highly effective in advancing President Trump's agenda to 'Make America Great Again' in the Department of the Army," said White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly.
Kelly detailed Driscoll's achievements and noted that he provided "extraordinary leadership during historic military operations, returning the focus to readiness and lethality, assisting in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and more. The U.S. Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of War."
