Trump's army secretary becomes latest military leader to quit administration

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during the U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration.

No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, but tensions with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of top military leadership, with the army especially seeing major upheaval.

"Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump's agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army by providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, restoring an emphasis on readiness and lethality, assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and more," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

"The United States army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the commander-in-chief and secretary of war," she added.

The Pentagon abruptly announced in April that Navy Secretary John Phelan was leaving the job , becoming the first head of a military service to depart during Trump's second term.

Hegseth suddenly ousted the service's top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George , in April, while the army's commander in Europe and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue, unexpectedly stepped down in June.

Hegseth tells U.S. Army chief of staff to retire 'effective immediately' amid war in Iran

Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who has made a meteoric rise under Hegseth, took George's place as the army's acting chief of staff. Under LaNeve, the service is pulling the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had heralded. An army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before LaNeve directed it to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion, officials said earlier this month.

Driscoll was a George ally and lamented his departure, along with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. He told Congress in April that he and his family drove to George's house following his resignation "and we all gave him a hug."

"That being said, the civilian leadership, the design of our system, is that they get to pick the leaders that they want," Driscoll added.

Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to Vance, whom Driscoll met at Yale Law School. When nominating Driscoll in 2024, Trump called him "a disruptor and change agent."

As army secretary, Driscoll was tapped for the unusual role of key negotiator to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. He was also a major force behind trying to cut the red tape for military contractors to quickly develop more drones and counter-drone capabilities as warfare rapidly changes around the world.

The U.S.