Hegseth allies believe he and Driscoll were not aligned on ‘radical transformation’ of Pentagon’s culture

The resignation of Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll brought renewed focus on the leadership of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, though some supporters within the Pentagon believe the change was necessary to enact Hegseth’s vision for the department.Hegseth’s tenure has been filled with firings, dismissals of senior leaders, and denials of promotions as he seeks to overhaul the department in his — and President Donald Trump’s — image.Driscoll, during his tenure as secretary of the Army, leaned into modernizing the service and quickly garnered the nickname as Trump’s “drone guy,” but Hegseth’s backers have questioned whether they were in alignment on the Army’s future. “He furthered some modernization efforts, really worked on drone dominance, but you know now we need someone else to come in and kind of take it the rest of the way and focus on the people more than the actual equipment,” a Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner. “If that makes sense, you know equipment’s important, but people are left. You know, they kind of run the whole thing, so I think there’s a necessary shift that needs to be undertaken toward that versus just every drone that we can produce.”The official, who is supportive of Hegseth’s efforts, added, “I think that there was an expectation that the Army would have [a] radical transformation with the culture, with the people specifically, and that did not occur at the pace that the people wanted it, or the people are at the lowest levels, or the middle to lowest levels in arms. So, we want someone that can execute radical change. And Dan Driscoll was not that guy.”During Driscoll’s tenure, he was dispatched by the administration to meet with Russian and Ukrainian leaders to see whether his injection into the process could help get both sides closer to an agreement. With Driscoll’s good image, expanding portfolio, and close relationship with Vice President JD Vance, with whom he went to law school, he became a logical option to replace Hegseth if Trump decided to get rid of him. There has been speculation about the future of Hegseth pretty much from the start of his tenure.But Hegseth has continued to reshape the Pentagon. In addition to Driscoll’s resignation this week, Hegseth fired in April Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff; Gen. David M. Hodne, the head of the Army’s Transformation and Training Command; and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s top chaplain. He also pushed Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, into retirement earlier this summer. Those are the Army-specific firings, but there have been several others across the services, as well as reports that he’s blocked various promotions during his tenure.Dating back to Hegseth’s Senate confirmation in January 2025, he outlined the radical change to the department that he intended to oversee, and he has followed through on many of the transformations he backed. When he addressed hundreds of senior leaders at Quantico, Virginia, last fall, he once again spelled it out: “If I’ve learned one core lesson in my eight months in this job, it’s that personnel is policy.”“This speech today — as I drink my coffee, this speech today is about people, and it’s about culture. The topic today is about the nature of ourselves, because no plan, no program, no reform, no formation will ultimately succeed unless we have the right people and the right culture at the War Department,” he added.Hegseth views the decisions of previous leaders, such as those made by the Biden administration, as having contributed to the problems he wants to fix. Most were fired without public explanation, raising the specter that their ties to the previous administration were to blame, even though the military leaders were simply following orders from civilian leaders.With Driscoll and George out of their roles, both spots are without a Senate-confirmed leader. The current acting Army chief of staff is Gen. Chris LaNeve, who is the vice chief of staff. He got nominated to the No. 2 spot after Hegseth pushed out Gen. James Mingus, who was the vice chief.Back in April, Hegseth was specifically asked about George’s departure, and while he didn’t address it specifically, he said, “Ultimately, my view in coming into this department, as I stated in my confirmation hearing, was to change the culture of the department. And it’s ultimately challenging to change the department, the culture of a department with the same people who are a part of or in that department.” His admission there is significant because it provides insight into why so many leaders have been pushed out — their ties to a previous culture he wants to end.The extent of Hegseth’s removals from senior leadership in the Army has surprised some in the military and on Capitol Hill, including Trump and Hegseth’s allies.“I’m tired of all the churn. I want to see some stability,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said this week, while Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), the vice chairman of HASC, said, “You need a confirmed individual there in Army leadership positions, and right now you don’t have that.”A source who supported Driscoll’s tenure called George, Driscoll, Donahue, and Hodne “the most brilliant warfighters,” who were “tough, lethal, and trained. It was everything that we say we want, and they were summarily forced out for no reason.”The current upheaval in the Army comes as the Iran war extends into its seventh month, far longer than administrations publicly expected. 18 service members have been killed, and more than 750 have been injured. The war has demonstrated the importance of America’s long-term air defense capabilities and magazine depth.SIX-MONTH IRAN WAR PUTS PRESSURE ON THE PENTAGON’S PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION TO MEET THE ‘1939 MOMENTMultiple Hegseth supporters within the Pentagon have advocated that Sean Parnell be nominated as the next Army secretary. Parnell, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is currently the Pentagon’s top spokesperson and is a senior adviser to Hegseth. Parnell and Hegseth have expressed very similar viewpoints and attitudes, down to their willingness to spar with the press in a way Driscoll would not. Hegseth himself reportedly favors Parnell, according to CBS News.Parnell could face a difficult confirmation battle in the Senate if he’s nominated, given that he dropped out of his 2022 Senate campaign in Pennsylvania following allegations of abuse from his estranged wife, which he denied.