Army Secretary to Step Down After Months of Tension With Hegseth

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Monday submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump and is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days.

Driscoll’s departure follows months of tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the direction of the Army and Hegseth’s removal of senior officers.

An Army official confirmed the move, first reported by The Wall Street Journal,to NOTUS. Driscoll “spoke to the president about the current state of the Army and submitted his resignation,” the official said.

The White House praised Driscoll’s tenure in a statement to the Journal, saying he advanced Trump’s agenda through major military operations, focusing on readiness and lethality and working on negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

NOTUS reported last week that Hegseth favors Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell to succeed Driscoll, although Parnell could face a difficult path to Senate confirmation.  

Parnell, a decorated Afghanistan veteran and former Republican congressional candidate, is a senior adviser to Hegseth and has served as the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson for most of Trump’s second term. His partisan profile and past domestic-abuse allegations, which he has denied, could complicate any possible confirmation effort.

Driscoll’s relationship with Hegseth appeared to come under particular strain after the defense secretary forced Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff, to retire in April. Driscoll later told lawmakers he was on vacation when he learned George had been told to step down and drove directly to George’s home when he returned.

“There is no person who has more respect for Gen. George,” Driscoll told lawmakers, calling him an “amazing, transformational leader” and adding, “I, too, loved Gen. George.”

Hegseth never publicly explained George’s removal. George and Driscoll had reportedly clashed with Hegseth over his decision to block the promotion of four Army officers to become one-star generals.

Driscoll stopped short at the time of directly criticizing Hegseth, telling lawmakers that civilian leaders “get to pick the leaders that they want, and we execute on those orders.”

His departure would leave the Army without a Senate-confirmed civilian or uniformed leader in the midst of the conflict with Iran. Gen. Christopher LaNeve has served as acting Army chief of staff since George’s removal.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from NOTUS to comment on Driscoll’s resignation or identify who would serve as acting secretary.