Army Secretary Driscoll Resigns After 18 Months Amid Hegseth Tensions

The U.S. Army now lacks Senate-confirmed leadership at both the civilian and uniformed levels while American forces conduct operations against Iran. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump on September 1, 2026, after 18 months in the role that began in February 2025.

The departure follows months of reported friction between Driscoll and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Wall Street Journal first reported the resignation, which Axios, Daily Wire, and Breitbart all covered. Driscoll had pushed the Army Transformation Initiative, an effort to merge Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command and to reduce funding for platforms including the AH-64D Apache helicopter, M10 Booker combat vehicle, and Gray Eagle drone. Those proposals reportedly encountered resistance inside the Pentagon.

Hegseth had already removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George earlier in 2026. George had collaborated with Driscoll on the same modernization agenda. The Army therefore enters a period of transition without confirmed top leaders during an active conflict that has lasted six months and recently included Iranian missile strikes on U.S. forces near the Strait of Hormuz.

Driscoll maintained a close relationship with Vice President JD Vance, his Yale Law School classmate. Axios reported that some unnamed U.S. officials described Hegseth as suspicious of that connection. Daily Wire and Breitbart noted the same relationship without additional characterization. A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, stated that Driscoll had been “highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again” through work on readiness, lethality, and Russia-Ukraine negotiations. She added that the Army is “more powerful than ever” because of his efforts.

Driscoll, the youngest person to hold the post, previously served as an Army officer, deployed to Iraq in 2009, and received bipartisan support during confirmation, including votes from 16 Democrats. No successor has been named, and the timing of his final day remains unspecified. The White House had asked him to remain until after the midterms; he declined.