Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Trump after a months-long rift with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, leaving the Army without a single Senate-confirmed civilian leader.

Driscoll, an Iraq war veteran and Yale Law School graduate who won Senate confirmation 66-28 in February 2025, could leave the Pentagon as early as Sept. 4, the New York Post reported. His departure caps a stretch of internal conflict over the direction of the Army and the firing of senior officers, a conflict that sources say made Driscoll's position untenable.

The resignation has not yet been formally accepted by the White House, Fox News reported. But Driscoll is expected to leave within days, and no replacement has been publicly named. Sean Parnell, Hegseth's top spokesman, is one of the leading internal candidates to succeed him.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly praised Driscoll on his way out:

"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."

Kelly added that "the United States Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of War." That official praise, though, papers over what multiple administration sources describe as a poisoned working relationship between Driscoll and Hegseth, one that grew worse after Hegseth began firing Army generals Driscoll believed were essential to military readiness.

Hegseth fired three generals, and Driscoll pushed back

The sharpest point of conflict came over personnel. Hegseth fired Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George roughly five months ago, in the middle of the Iran war, for reasons never publicly stated. He then dismissed Gen. David Hodne, commander of the Army's Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green, commander of the Army's Chaplain Corps. The department offered only that "it was time for a leadership change."

Driscoll raised concerns directly with the White House about those firings, arguing that the generals were responsible for military transformation and readiness. A source familiar with the matter told Fox News that Driscoll believed Hegseth was "blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible."

Gen. Christopher Donahue, the Army's top commander in Europe, was also forced out, Newsmax reported, part of a broader pattern of senior military departures under Hegseth's leadership.

That pattern has extended beyond firings. Hegseth pulled four Army officers from a brigadier general promotion list over their ties to ousted leaders, deepening the sense of upheaval across the service branch.

Driscoll accused of leaking, without evidence, sources say

The tension between Driscoll and Hegseth was not limited to policy disagreements. Sources told the Post that Hegseth and Pentagon chief of staff Ricky Buria floated an internal theory that Driscoll had leaked reports of low munitions stockpiles. Neither provided evidence. One Trump administration official dismissed the accusation outright:

"It was such an absurd accusation that nobody seriously investigated it or took it seriously."

Buria, who has been at the center of repeated Pentagon drama, "long claimed without providing evidence that Driscoll was a leaker," sources said. The accusation became one more pressure point in a relationship that had already soured.

The broader Pentagon environment around leaks has grown more charged. The DOJ and Pentagon launched a joint task force targeting unauthorized media leaks, reflecting the administration's sensitivity to internal disclosures, a sensitivity that, in Driscoll's case, appears to have been weaponized against him without substantiation.

Sources also said Hegseth developed what they described as "paranoia" about being replaced by Driscoll. In April, Hegseth sought to fire Driscoll outright but was told by the White House that he could not. The failed attempt did not ease tensions. Instead, sources say, Hegseth and Buria decided to "make Dan Driscoll's life hell."

One Trump administration official described the endgame bluntly:

"Ricky and Pete made it so untenable for [Driscoll] that he felt it was best for not just him but for the people that he loved and respected in the Army to leave [to protect them from being] tormented because they were affiliated with him."

A Pentagon official offered a sharply different account

Not everyone inside the building saw Driscoll as a victim of internal politics. At least one Pentagon official critical of Driscoll offered a contrasting view, telling the Post that "since day one, Dan Driscoll abdicated his responsibility to maintain effective civilian control of the Army."

That official added that Driscoll was "too cautious about disrupting the status quo and allowed himself to be sidelined by the generals, especially Randy George," rather than "aggressively implementing President Trump's agenda." It is a charge that frames Driscoll not as a principled dissenter but as a passive figure who let the uniformed brass run the show.

Both accounts cannot be fully true at once. Either Driscoll was a reformer blocked by Hegseth's personnel moves, or he was a cautious operator who let the generals sideline him. What is clear from the record is that the working relationship between the Army's top civilian and the Secretary of War broke down completely, and it was Driscoll who left.

Driscoll's record included wartime negotiations and drone modernization

Whatever the internal politics, Driscoll's portfolio was substantial. He oversaw operations, modernization, and resource allocation for nearly one million active, guard, and reserve soldiers and more than 265,000 civilians. He served as a key negotiator in the Trump administration's effort to end the Russia-Ukraine war. He worked to cut red tape for military contractors developing drones and counter-drone capabilities.

President Trump originally tapped Driscoll to be "a disruptor and change agent." His Senate confirmation was lopsided and smooth, a 66-28 vote after what was described as a largely unconfrontational Armed Services Committee hearing. Eighteen months later, the disruption came from inside the Pentagon, not from the man sent to deliver it.

Sources said Driscoll had always planned to serve as Army secretary for a couple of years, then leave to help his close friend Vice President JD Vance run for president. But the toxic relationship with Hegseth accelerated that timeline. Driscoll is a former law school classmate of Vance, and the two share a military background, a bond that gave Driscoll a direct line to the White House that Hegseth apparently found threatening.

Hegseth's own political ambitions have drawn scrutiny. His recent Iowa swing fueled 2028 presidential speculation, raising questions about whether the Secretary of War's internal maneuvering is driven by policy conviction or personal positioning.

No Senate-confirmed Army leaders remain

Driscoll's departure leaves the Army with no Senate-confirmed secretary and no Senate-confirmed chief of staff, a leadership vacuum that AP News described as part of a broader pattern of instability within the Pentagon. Navy Secretary John Phelan also departed earlier in the administration.

Just The News reported that the Pentagon now lacks any Senate-confirmed civilian or military leaders, a situation with few modern precedents.

Democratic lawmakers seized on the departure. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth "is cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance." Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger, called it "unfortunate that somebody like that can't last in this administration."

Those criticisms carry a partisan edge, but the underlying facts, three fired generals, a forced-out European commander, an Army secretary driven from his post, and no confirmed replacements, speak for themselves. The Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon referred inquiries to the Army.

Parnell, Hegseth's spokesman, is among the leading candidates to take over. As we previously reported, Hegseth has been eyeing Parnell for the role, a choice that would place another Hegseth loyalist atop the service branch.

Driscoll's earlier plans to leave on his own terms were reported weeks ago, but the speed of his exit suggests the situation inside the Pentagon deteriorated faster than anyone outside it realized.

An Army of nearly a million soldiers now has no confirmed civilian at the helm. That is not a personnel dispute. That is a readiness problem, and the people who created it are still in charge.