When Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told President Donald Trump last week that he was resigning, Trump suggested he could stay at least through the midterm elections, people familiar with the meeting told The Washington Post — a show of support for a top Pentagon leader who has clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
At the White House meeting last week where Driscoll told Trump of his planned departure, he also voiced concerns to the president about the damage he said Hegseth was doing to the Army, people familiar with the conversation told The Post. Like others interviewed for this article, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for the White House disputed the characterization of the meeting. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door conversation.
Driscoll submitted his resignation on Monday. As The Post and others reported previously, Driscoll had repeated disagreements with Hegseth, who has fired several of the Army’s generals, halted the advancement of other top officers and stymied some of Driscoll’s top Army modernization initiatives.
On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to comment on whether Hegseth had sought Driscoll’s departure. Parnell said any suggestion that Hegseth was hampering modernization was “a total fabrication.”
“The premise that the Department is in disarray is completely baseless and an insult to every dedicated professional and warfighter in this building,” Parnell added. “This is what reform looks like.”
It was not immediately clear why Trump suggested that Driscoll stay on — or why Driscoll chose to depart now. The president has given Hegseth wide latitude to reshape the military’s culture and leadership, and Trump has in past departures backed his defense secretary’s personnel decisions.
In a public statement posted to X, Driscoll on Tuesday credited Hegseth for his role in Army modernization and called the opportunity to serve as Army secretary “the honor of a lifetime.”
The White House said Driscoll’s last day will be Thursday.
A spokesman for Driscoll declined to comment.
Trump’s suggestion that Driscoll stay reflected the Army secretary’s good standing within the White House, said those familiar with the matter. For a time, Driscoll was seen as a potential replacement for Hegseth, whose early stumbles alarmed some top officials close to the president.
Driscoll has had a direct line to the White House through a longtime friendship with Vice President JD Vance. Both are Iraq War veterans who met while attending Yale Law School after leaving the military.
Driscoll, according to two people familiar with the matter, hopes to be involved in Vance’s campaign should he decide to run for president in 2028.
A spokesman for Vance declined to comment.
Driscoll’s departure comes at a critical time for the Army, which has tens of thousands of soldiers deployed throughout the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities with Iran. The service faces an immediate need to resupply its air defense arsenal and better train and equip for the proliferation of deadly attack drones that now define contemporary warfare.
Driscoll had been a key player in both efforts, but was frustrated that many of the Army’s top modernization initiatives were shifted away from the force and put under Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, said two people familiar with the matter.
In their White House meeting last week, Driscoll explained to Trump the internal challenges he faced as Hegseth intervened in the service’s personnel matters and modernization programs, these people said. Some details of that conversation were reported earlier by the Atlantic.
Historically, the military services have been largely left to independently identify and promote their future leadership. Since becoming defense secretary, Hegseth, a former Fox News personality who served as an officer in the Army National Guard, has upended that process, halting the planned advancement of numerous military officers and purging the ranks of those suspected of being at odds with the administration and its agenda. Many of those targeted have been women and minorities.
In recent weeks, Hegseth removed seven of the 18 Army one-star generals slated for promotion to major general, according to a U.S. official. Those cuts were first reported by NBC News.
The Pentagon did not address a query from The Post on the firings.
Driscoll was 38 years old when the Senate confirmed him as the Army’s top civilian leader. He worked in venture capital and ran an unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2020 before joining the Trump administration last year.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican whose home state of North Carolina stations a large Army presence, on Wednesday criticized Hegseth’s leadership in a social media post.
“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” said Tillis, who is retiring.
The senator cast the decisive vote to confirm Hegseth last year but has since said he regrets the decision. In his post, Tillis urged Trump to pick a new defense secretary.
Driscoll’s departure leaves the Army and Navy without Senate-confirmed leaders. On Wednesday, Trump officially nominated acting Navy secretary Hung Cao for the full Navy post.
Isaac Arnsdorf, Dan Lamothe and Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
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