Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down, White House says

FILE - U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll speaks at the America 250 celebration at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker, File) Karl B. DeBlaker/AP hide caption

WASHINGTON — 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 Trump administration.

Middle East conflict Hegseth ousts the Army chief of staff as the Iran war rages through Week 5 No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the 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 spokeswoman 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.

A U.S. Army official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Driscoll spoke with President Donald Trump on the current state of the Army and submitted his resignation. The official did not provide additional details. The Pentagon referred questions to the Army. Driscoll's resignation was reported earlier Monday by The Wall Street Journal.

Driscoll's departure follows the ouster of one of his allies from the Army as well as the rollback of a drone program he had championed. Hegseth had 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.

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. 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 in August.

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.

Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican who had served in the Army National Guard, said on X that Driscoll is "a transformative leader who brought common sense and discipline to the Department of the Army."

"I had the pleasure of working with him closely, and appreciated how engaged he was from mentoring cadets at West Point to leading the Army at the Pentagon," Womack wrote.