Secretary Hegseth Feud with Secretary of the Army
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Soon after his first day at the Pentagon in early 2025, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll walked into his boss’s office with a proposal. Driscoll, a longtime friend and aide to Vice President JD Vance, offered to organize a visit by Vance and President Trump to meet soldiers and talk about reforming the Army.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth raised his voice, telling Driscoll that he, Hegseth, was in charge and ordered Driscoll to stay in his lane, according to people familiar with the encounter.
The encounter, which hasn’t been reported previously, was just one early episode in what has become a rocky relationship between the Pentagon chief and the Army secretary.
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But the unusually public nature of the spat, along with the firing of a highly respected general during a war, has triggered fresh criticism within the Pentagon and in some Trump circles of Hegseth’s leadership. It has prompted questions about whether he allows personal vendettas to drive some decisions in a time of unprecedented military commitments around the world.
Retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, panned Hegseth’s decision to fire George. (4* Army Chief of Staff)
“Effectively stripping the Army of a senior leader in a wartime environment, while trying to undergo transformation procurement-wise, I couldn’t think of two things I’d rather not do than that,” Montgomery said.
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Hegseth has fired or sidelined several senior Army generals, including Lt. Gen. Joseph Berger, the Army’s former top lawyer; Gen. Douglas Sims, the former director of the Joint Staff; Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, the former director for strategy, plans and policy at the Joint Staff; and Gen. James Mingus, the Army’s former vice chief of staff.
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Some Republican lawmakers praised Driscoll’s leadership of the Army, while lamenting Hegseth’s treatment of George. “You are the right person, in the right place, at the right time,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.).
Rep. Steve Womack (R., Ark.), a retired colonel in the Army National Guard, said the former chief was a “distinguished representative of our Army, and I, too, regret the fact and conditions he left the service in, and I think our country will regret that circumstance.”
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