The long list of more than twenty senior Pentagon officials who have resigned or been dismissed in the past year added a new name this Monday: Daniel Driscoll, the United States Secretary of the Army, has left the position after 18 months in office. The resignation comes in a context of growing internal tensions in the Department of Defense, both due to the purge initiated by Secretary Pete Hegseth last year and because of the duration and decisions made in the Iran war, which has already lasted more than half a year and has caused shortages in the U.S. arsenal.
Driscoll’s departure has been confirmed by White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly through a statement that does not explain the reasons for his exit. “Secretary Driscoll has been very effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to make the U.S. strong again from the Department of the Army, providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, restoring emphasis on readiness and lethality, assisting in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, among other things,” Kelly praises him in her farewell.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, the first outlet to break the news, Driscoll spoke with President Donald Trump about the Army’s situation and shortly after submitted his resignation “after months of tensions” with Hegseth. The Army Secretary had long been in the Pentagon chief’s crosshairs, as he openly opposed his methods in the aggressive purge carried out over the last year and a half.
In April, Hegseth unexpectedly dismissed the Army’s top uniformed officer, General Randy George, and two months later the commander of the Army in Europe and Africa, Christopher Donahue, left the post. Driscoll was very close to both, especially George, but not so much with the interim chief who replaced him, General Christopher LaNeve, who recently canceled a drone modernization program he had been promoting.
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Decisions made in the Iran war and the systematic purge in the Pentagon generate internal tensions in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Driscoll was an ally of Vice President J.D. Vance, with whom he shared classes at Yale Law School. His negotiated resignation comes at the same time that Hegseth’s name is sounding stronger than ever as a possible Republican candidate for the 2028 presidential election, a nomination that, if presented, would likely compete with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The military leader was chosen by Trump even before his inauguration, in 2024, and was then described as a “disruptor” and “agent of change.” He was approved by the Senate without much debate and, already in the Army, was chosen for an important role: chief negotiator in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, in his role as head of the Army, he worked to implement Trump’s agenda against bureaucracy, allowing, among other things, military contractors to accelerate their development of drones and defenses for them.
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