Dan Driscoll resigns Army leadership role as tension grows with Pete Hegseth

Danielle Battaglia, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Aug 31, 2026

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WASHINGTON — North Carolina’s Dan Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, resigned his position Monday evening after reports of growing tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Driscoll’s resignation, which other news outlets confirmed. The resignation becomes official Thursday, according to The Military Times.

And his resignation leaves the Army without leadership after Hegseth in April fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, among others.

Driscoll served 18 months on the job overseeing a $197.4 billion budget and the Army’s 1.2 million employees.

President Donald Trump nominated Driscoll at 38 to become Army secretary, making him the youngest in U.S. history.

Driscoll, now 40, grew up in Banner Elk, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and lived in Winston-Salem at the time Trump tapped him for the job.

In a news release about Driscoll’s nomination, Trump called him “a disrupter and change agent.”

Unnamed military officials expressed concerns in published reports about whether Driscoll’s experience was enough for him to lead the Army. He had served less than four years in the Army, having deployed to Iraq and finished with the rank of first lieutenant.

He had run once, unsuccessfully, for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th District, but lost the Republican primary to former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

But Driscoll faced little pushback during his Senate confirmation hearing.

He told the senators he comes from three generations of Army men and his own elementary-aged son wants to follow in their footsteps.

And Driscoll had connections.

He went to Yale University with Vice President JD Vance and both joined the Yale Veterans Association. They became friends,and kept in touch following graduation, and Driscoll would later serve as Vance’s senior adviser.

Driscoll’s relationship with Vance and later Trump added to the tensions between Driscoll and Hegseth.

The situation made international news in November 2025, when Trump brought in Driscoll, over Hegseth, to negotiate with Ukraine a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine and Russia. That decision lifted Driscoll’s profile and showed the trust Trump developed with him.