Army Secretary Dan Driscoll Resigns After Months of Clashing With Hegseth Over Fired Generals

Five days after Hegseth's purge of Army brass drew a senator's warning about troops near polling places, the Army's top civilian leader announced he's walking away too.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump on Monday, August 31, according to a senior U.S. official who confirmed the news to Fox News. The Wall Street Journal first reported the move.

A source familiar with the matter told Fox News and NBC News, in nearly identical language, that Driscoll had raised concerns with the administration "surrounding Army transformation and readiness" and Hegseth's "blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible." The same characterization appeared in reporting from Al Jazeera, which cited Reuters, and MS NOW.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly issued a statement praising Driscoll to nearly every outlet covering the story, calling him "highly effective" and crediting him with "restoring an emphasis on readiness and lethality" and "assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine." Notably, Kelly's statement did not directly confirm or deny that Driscoll was actually leaving.

Fox News, The Hill and Breaking Defense all reported the resignation remains pending and has not been formally accepted by the White House. NBC News and ABC News, by contrast, reported that Trump had already accepted it Monday evening. Al Jazeera, citing a Reuters source, said it was unclear which is true. As of Monday night, no outlet has definitively resolved that discrepancy.

A Feud Two Years in the Making

Driscoll, confirmed by the Senate 66-28 in February 2025, is a Yale Law classmate and close ally of Vice President JD Vance. He's an Iraq War veteran and tech investor who earned the nickname "drone guy" for pushing the Army to cut red tape for drone and counter-drone contractors, according to Axios.

His relationship with Hegseth soured over who gets to run the Army. Hegseth ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April without public explanation, a move Driscoll's allies on both sides of the aisle criticized. Driscoll told a House Appropriations subcommittee in April that he drove straight to George's house after learning of the firing: "We walked right in, and we all gave him a hug." He added, pointedly, that under the Army's chain of command, "the design of our system is that they get to pick the leaders that they want, and we execute on those orders."

The friction didn't stop there. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the top Army officer in Europe, saw his position downgraded before retiring in June. And this month, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, Hegseth's pick as acting Army chief of staff, shut down a specialized drone unit that Driscoll had championed, forcing it back into a conventional infantry battalion, according to CBS News and The Independent.

Driscoll had reportedly told associates he wanted out by Labor Day, but NBC News and The Hill both reported the White House initially wanted him to stay through the November midterms. One source told MS NOW that Driscoll had long planned to serve roughly 23 months, the historical average tenure for an Army secretary, regardless of the tension with Hegseth.

Who's Next, and What's Left Behind

Driscoll's exit leaves the Army without a Senate-confirmed civilian or uniformed leader. LaNeve remains acting chief of staff, not yet nominated for the permanent post. Breaking Defense reported that Undersecretary Michael Obadal would customarily step into the acting secretary role, and that an Army official described Obadal and Hegseth as having "a great working relationship." In context, that detail reads like a signal Hegseth intends to install someone more aligned with him. Hegseth is under no obligation to pick Obadal, and The Hill reported he's considering Sean Parnell, currently the Pentagon's chief spokesman, for the job.

The Hill also reported that Dave Fitzgerald, the deputy undersecretary of the Army, is expected to resign this week, suggesting the shakeup extends beyond Driscoll alone.

Driscoll's tenure wasn't limited to Pentagon bureaucracy. CBS News noted his time as Army secretary overlapped with a plan to cut American troop levels in Germany. Trump also tapped Driscoll last fall as an unusually senior civilian envoy to negotiate a Ukraine peace framework with Russian and Ukrainian officials, a role well outside the normal duties of a service secretary.

The Army has now lost its chief of staff, its top European commander, and its Senate-confirmed secretary within the space of five months, and no nominee has yet been named to fill any of the top uniformed or civilian slots.