Dan Driscoll has stepped down from his position as secretary of the Army, a resignation attributed to growing tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over military transformation strategies, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Hegseth has reportedly moved to remove senior military leaders who supported Driscoll’s innovation and modernization efforts, creating friction that led to Driscoll’s departure, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
“Driscoll raised concerns with the administration about Army transformation and readiness, and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts—specifically by firing the generals who were responsible—was a primary factor,” a source stated.
A former Army Ranger who served with the 10th Mountain Division, Driscoll graduated from Yale Law School and previously worked in investment banking before being appointed as the Army’s top civilian leader in 2024.
During his tenure, Driscoll collaborated with senior military officers including Army Chief Gen. Randy George, Gen. David Hodne of Transformation and Training Command, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus, and Gen. Christopher Donahue of U.S. Army Europe and Africa—all of whom Hegseth has subsequently removed or pushed out.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., expressed concern over Driscoll’s resignation, stating, “I am alarmed that Secretary Driscoll’s leadership of the Army stands in stark contrast to Secretary Hegseth’s disastrous tenure atop the Defense Department.”
Driscoll introduced the Army Transformation Initiative in May 2025, drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s rapid military innovations during its resistance against Russian forces. The initiative emphasizes modernizing the Army through advanced technologies and adaptive strategies.
“When you look at Ukraine, they have not accepted the current version of a thing as sufficient, and they have MacGyvered and come up with whatever they have to do to get to an outcome they need,” Driscoll told Pentagon reporters in November.
Key components of his reform agenda included integrating artificial intelligence into military decision-making, decentralizing procurement and equipment modification authority to lower command levels, deploying advanced drone units, and enhancing counter-drone capabilities.
In a speech at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in October, Driscoll emphasized the critical need for modernization: “We will win with silicon and software and not our soldiers’ bodies… No one can predict the next war, but we cannot wait—we cannot wait to innovate until Americans are dying on the battlefield.”
Following Gen. George’s removal, Acting Army Chief Gen. Christopher LaNeve directed a battalion that had been collaborating with Ukrainian forces on drone warfare innovations to revert to traditional infantry duties.