Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Pentagon around the end of 2026, capping a months-long turf war with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that has rattled senior military leadership.
Driscoll, a former venture capitalist and close ally of Vice President Vance, has told associates that between 23 and 24 months is the realistic lifespan of an Army secretary in the Trump administration, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The Hill reported that Driscoll's expected departure follows a simmering battle for influence with Hegseth that has escalated through personnel firings, blocked promotions, and competing visions for how the Army should modernize. The Wall Street Journal separately reported that Driscoll is expected to step down by year's end.
Driscoll's spokesperson declined to comment. But the picture that emerges from multiple unnamed sources, a former White House official, a source familiar with the discussions, and a U.S. official granted anonymity, is of a service secretary who arrived with bipartisan Senate support, built a reform agenda, and then watched Hegseth dismantle key relationships around him.
Hegseth fired Driscoll's top Army general while Driscoll was on vacation
The sharpest flashpoint came in early April, when Hegseth ousted Gen. Randy George from his post as Army chief of staff. Newsmax reported that the firing happened on April 2 while Driscoll was on vacation and without advance notice to him. Driscoll and George had formed a close working relationship and together rolled out the Army Transformation Initiative, a reform plan focused on three goals: delivering warfighting capabilities, optimizing force structure, and cutting waste and obsolete programs.
George's removal drew criticism from Republican lawmakers. Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery called the move reckless in its timing, saying it amounted to "effectively stripping the Army of a senior leader in a wartime environment, while trying to undergo transformation procurement-wise."
Driscoll responded publicly with measured praise for the fired general. "I, too, love Gen. George," he said, calling him "an amazing, transformational leader." That kind of open pushback from a civilian service secretary against his own defense secretary is unusual, and it signaled how far the relationship had deteriorated.
Trump and Hegseth picked Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army vice chief of staff and a former military aide to Hegseth, to serve as acting Army chief of staff. But LaNeve's path to permanent confirmation remains uncertain. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised objections, and while LaNeve has met with senators in recent months, the nomination's status remains unresolved.
Insiders say Hegseth's moves stem from fear that Driscoll could replace him
The friction between the two Pentagon leaders did not start with George's firing. Sources told the New York Post that Hegseth's aggressive posture toward the Army grew out of insecurity following the Signalgate controversy. Driscoll's close friendship with Vance, combined with Trump's public praise of Driscoll and his role as a Ukraine war negotiator, reportedly fueled concern inside Hegseth's circle that Driscoll was being positioned as a potential successor.
One current or former administration official put it bluntly: "This is all driven by the insecurity and paranoia that Pete has developed since Signalgate." Another source close to the Trump administration said Hegseth "keeps going after the Army in particular," adding that "Hegseth wants to fire him, but Vance has his back." The White House reportedly told Hegseth he could not fire Driscoll directly, so he targeted those perceived as Driscoll's allies instead.
That pattern has played out repeatedly. The internal Pentagon power struggle between the two men has extended well beyond a single personnel decision.
At an early meeting, Hegseth told Driscoll to "stay in his lane," ending the discussion abruptly, a phrase that, coming from a defense secretary to a Senate-confirmed service secretary, carries unmistakable weight. Hegseth also pushed Driscoll to remove Black and female officers from a brigadier general promotion list. Driscoll refused.
Hegseth held up 34 officer promotions and forced out a decorated public affairs chief
The personnel conflicts extended further down the chain of command. Fox News reported that Hegseth ordered Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler, the chief of Army public affairs, from his post. Driscoll resisted the pressure for months, citing Butler's contributions to Army transformation. Butler, a highly decorated officer with 28 years of service, ultimately announced his retirement.
Driscoll issued a statement praising Butler's record: "Dave has been an integral part of the Army's transformation efforts and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service." A former four-star commander described Butler as "the consummate professional, the most competent Public Affairs officer I have ever worked with."
Hegseth also held up a promotion list of 34 officers for nearly four months over concerns about four or five names on the list. That kind of bottleneck sends a signal through the entire officer corps, not just to the individuals waiting, but to every officer watching from below.
The broader pattern of firings and forced removals has created what Fox News described as "fear and uncertainty among military leadership." For a military branch engaged in active transformation efforts and learning lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, that instability carries real operational cost.
Driscoll pushed modernization while Hegseth dismantled the team around him
Whatever the internal politics, Driscoll's tenure produced a substantive reform agenda. He pushed the Army to improve living conditions for service members, modernize equipment, and learn from Ukrainian forces how to use commercial technology in modern warfare. One source familiar with Driscoll's approach said he had been "aggressive" in getting buy-in from general officers to deliver on those efforts, given his limited time in the role.
The Army Transformation Initiative that Driscoll and George co-launched aimed to cut waste and deliver capabilities faster. Part of that effort involved a battalion within the 173rd Airborne Brigade that was studying and incorporating lessons from overseas conflicts, including the use of unmanned systems in the Russia-Ukraine war. That unit, backed by Gen. Chris Donahue, the former commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, is now being phased out.
Tensions between Driscoll and Hegseth flared further late last year when Trump picked Driscoll, not Hegseth, to negotiate directly with Ukrainian officials in hopes of ending the war. That diplomatic assignment placed the Army secretary in a role that typically falls to the defense secretary or the State Department, a move that one source described as a direct catalyst for the escalating friction.
Hegseth's tenure at the Pentagon has drawn scrutiny from multiple directions. Senate Republicans moved to cut his travel budget by 75 percent over transparency failures, a rare rebuke from his own party.
Driscoll won Senate confirmation on Feb. 25 of last year with a 66-28 vote, a comfortable bipartisan margin that reflected broad confidence in his qualifications. That level of support stands in contrast to the resistance now facing LaNeve's nomination and to the growing unease among GOP defense hawks about how Hegseth has managed senior military personnel.
Hegseth's approach to Pentagon leadership has included a series of bold and sometimes controversial policy moves, from ordering annual testosterone screening for troops over 30 to launching an anti-leak task force with the DOJ. Those decisions reflect a combative management style that has defined his time at the Pentagon, and, according to multiple sources, contributed directly to the departure of one of the administration's most effective service secretaries.
No successor named, and open questions remain
No successor for Driscoll has been publicly identified or discussed. His departure, if it proceeds as reported, will leave the Army without the civilian leader who built its current transformation agenda, and without the general who co-designed it, since George is already gone.
Several questions remain unanswered. What specific outcomes came from Driscoll's negotiations with Ukrainian officials? Will LaNeve's confirmation clear the Senate, or will bipartisan objections stall it indefinitely? And who, if anyone, will carry forward the modernization work that Driscoll and George started?
The administration set out to reform the Pentagon. Instead, the Pentagon's own leadership spent months fighting itself, and the people doing the reforming are the ones heading for the door.
