U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announces resignation after 18 months

WASHINGTON -- Dan Driscoll has announced that his last full day as U.S. Army secretary is Wednesday, but his social media post offered no explanation for why he is stepping down after 18 months as the service's civilian leader.

Driscoll is a friend of Vice President JD Vance and has good relationships with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. But tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported, and some of Driscoll's allies in the Army were ousted this year by President Donald Trump's Pentagon chief.

Driscoll spoke with Trump on the current state of the Army before he submitted his resignation this week, The Associated Press has reported.

Any concerns were absent from Driscoll's post on X late Tuesday night, which was his first public statement since the White House confirmed his departure Monday. Driscoll said it has been “the honor of a lifetime” to serve as Army secretary under Trump and Hegseth.

Driscoll praised the soldiers, their families and the Army's civilian workforce for helping “modernize and accelerate how the Army mans, trains, and equips the most lethal fighting force on the face of the earth.”

“We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth,” he added.

His exit comes as the U.S. military has returned to launching airstrikes against Iran after a lull in hostilities during the more than six-month-old war, leaving the nation's largest fighting force without top civilian or uniformed leaders who have been confirmed by the Senate. It was not immediately clear who would fill Driscoll's role at least temporarily.

Hegseth in April ousted the Army's top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George, an ally of Driscoll. Gen. Christopher LaNeve took over as the Army’s acting chief of staff and recently pulled the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had championed.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers sent a letter this week to Driscoll and LaNeve to express “deep concerns" about eliminating the specialized drone unit and to request a briefing from the Army to explain its decision.

As Army secretary, Driscoll was a major force behind trying to cut the red tape for military contractors to quickly develop more drones and counter-drone capabilities as modern warfare evolves.

Driscoll also was tapped last year for the unusual assignment of key negotiator to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Both Republicans and Democrats have lamented Driscoll's resignation.

“Secretary Hegseth is cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance,” Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday.