Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is resigning, the White House confirmed.
Page A14From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 1 September 2026
Army Secretary 'steps down,' White House says; resignation actually followed feud with Hegseth, leaving Army leaderless.
As it ran on the front
Look, nobody resigned. Nobody. The Secretary of the Army made a values-based decision to step down — those are two very different verbs, and if you can't see that, that's a comprehension problem, not a spin problem. He didn't resign amid friction with the Secretary of Defense, he... okay, he resigned amid friction with the Secretary of Defense. Did I just say that? That doesn't sound like me. Let me start over.
The point is, transitions happen. Administrations go through personnel changes all the time, it's called governance, and calling it a 'resignation' when the release says 'stepping down' is exactly the kind of gotcha journalism that — look, I've read the release. I've read all five versions of this release, because apparently five different outlets needed five different verbs to describe one man leaving one office, and somehow they all landed on 'resigned' except us. That's not a coincidence, that's called discipline.…
…(cont) Is the Army currently without confirmed leadership in the middle of two active wars? Sure, technically, on paper, in the literal org-chart sense. But 'without confirmed leadership' sounds so alarming when you say it like that. I prefer 'leadership in transition.' It's the same vacancy, it just polls better.
And the friction with the Defense Secretary — that's not friction, that's healthy institutional tension, the kind the Founders absolutely anticipated when they — no, they didn't anticipate this, nobody anticipated this, I don't know why I said the Founders. Strike that.
Here's what I'll say on the record: a man left a job. Men leave jobs. It happens in every industry, in every — this isn't every industry, this is the United States Army during two wars and I am aware of how that sounds, thank you, I have ears.
So no, there is no crisis here. There is a Secretary who is stepping down, for reasons that are entirely his own, that definitely do not involve the Secretary of Defense, except for the parts where they do, which — I need a minute. The building is still standing. The wars are still happening. Somebody will confirm a replacement eventually, probably, and when they do, we will call that a smooth transition too, because that's the job. My job. Which I am not stepping down from, for the record, regardless of any friction with anyone in this building whatsoever.
“They dressed a forced-out Secretary of the Army as a 'stepping down,' the same week two wars need somebody signing orders. That's not a personnel update, that's a chain of command with a hole in it and a press release covering the hole.”
“He's not being pushed out, he's pursuing other opportunities to serve the country in a private capacity, which is a totally normal thing to say about a wartime post. Friction with Hegseth? I wouldn't call it friction, I'd call it — okay, it's friction, but productive friction. That's not what I meant to say.”
The receipts
The resignation of Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, had been expected but comes at a tumultuous time for the service.
Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump amid growing tension between him and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, sources told ABC News.
“highly effective”
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.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.