Earlier this week, U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll resigned from his post after reportedly attempting to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump directly about how changes in military leadership were impacting the Army’s war preparedness.
Driscoll, a law school colleague of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, was appointed to the Army’s highest civilian post after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in February last year. Experts say he was particularly involved in planning how to transform the Army to reduce its reliance on ground forces and enable it to participate in modern warfare, which has become increasingly reliant on assets such as drones and missiles.
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His resignation is the latest in a list of senior officials to be fired or asked to resign under Mr. Hegseth, including three- and four-star generals and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a group of senior military personnel who meet directly to advise the U.S. president. They include Black and women leaders who are now calling for a reversal, saying the Trump administration has recently unfairly promoted them because of their “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts.
Technically speaking, officials like Driscoll are working at the president’s pleasure, said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank. Hegseth, who was appointed by Trump, therefore has the power to fire them. But for civilian leaders and others in the military who are not told exactly why these personnel changes occur, “the sheer number of layoffs and blocked promotions raises questions about whether there is a hollowing out of the military’s upper echelons.”
End “awakening”
Hegseth was an infantry officer in the Army National Guard before becoming a TV personality on the conservative US news channel Fox News before being selected as a member of Trump’s cabinet. Hegseth has been particularly outspoken about modern changes in the military that he claims have weakened the military, including policies that lead to the hiring and promotion of women and LGBTQ personnel. Hegseth said these are other ethnic minorities who are being promoted based on their demographics rather than their performance, which should have been evaluated within the military.
“Hegseth came to the Pentagon with specific priorities, including an emphasis on increasing what he called ‘lethality’ and eliminating what he and Trump called the ‘woke’ ideology that he and Trump believed pervaded the Pentagon,” said Jennifer Kavanaugh, senior fellow at Defense Priorities.
Under Hegseth, the Trump administration began using “Department of the Army” instead of “Department of Defense,” and the military toned down and in some cases erased monuments and other public recognition to minorities and women who were pioneers in the agency. Earlier this year, Hegseth announced that the military would begin annual testosterone testing for soldiers over 30 as part of an effort to ensure they “have the biological foundations necessary to continue fighting.”
Fired or forced to retire early
The result, experts say, is the dismantling of the merit-based promotion system that defines the military, which has a budget of about $1 trillion and more than 1.3 million active-duty soldiers.
“It’s long past time for President Trump to recognize the lasting harm Pete Hegseth is inflicting on the Department of Defense,” Sen. Jack Reed, himself a former military officer, said in a statement following the news of Driscoll’s resignation. “Secretary Hegseth is fostering a culture where dissent is punished and competency is secondary to personal loyalty.”
All members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which represents the Army, Navy, and Air Force, were fired, resigned, or replaced under the Hegseth administration.
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a black fighter pilot who served as Air Force Chief of Staff and later became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was fired last February and replaced by a white man. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, a white woman who also served as the chief of naval operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also fired that same month and replaced by a white man. Army Chief of Staff General Randy A. George was fired in April of this year. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Albin retired early last year.
Hegseth also dismissed or forced out top civilians who worked under him. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan resigned in April, and Driscoll’s last day was Wednesday.
The head of the intelligence agency also left. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was fired last year after the agency reported that U.S. airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities were ineffective.
Other senior officials who left under Hegseth include Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and Gen. David Hoddon, commander of U.S. Army Modification and Training Command. General James Mingus, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, Director of Strategy, Plans, and Policy, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, U.S. Navy Representative to NATO; Rear Admiral Milton Sands, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.
Experts say the sidelining of women and minorities in the top ranks will make those below them question whether they should spend decades more of their lives in a system that could exclude them because of their identity.
“If you’re in the military, even if you’re not at a senior level, and you’re paying attention to these changes, you wonder what kind of message it sends to the rank and file,” Grieco said.
advice to overturn
Experts say the disruption at the Pentagon also has immediate operational implications.
Kavanaugh said there are long-term strategic considerations with the loss of leadership.
He said the war in Iran has shown how important fleets of drones and missiles will be in future conflicts, and that top leaders like Driscoll understand the need to pivot the military in new directions, a task made even more difficult when someone else is constantly in charge of this kind of long-term thinking.
“This is what the chief of staff and the secretary of state should be doing,” Kavanaugh said. “They’re not dealing with operational combat. They’re not dealing with what’s happening every day in Iran, for example. They’re dealing with the big picture problem of military modernization, and every time a new leader comes in, they may come with a new vision.”
