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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My guess is Trump will appoint him Pope as a way to avoid any embarrassment.
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It's ok to have an ass-clown or two in the cabinet in places like Homeland Security or Commerce but for the Department of War the country needs a really competent person.
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Not just the Secretary of the Army. Secretary of the Navy dismissed.
John Phelan is out as the secretary of the Navy, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
Phelan, who this week attended the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space symposium in Washington, is departing the role “effective immediately,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced.
U.S. Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao, a former Virginia Senate candidate and special operations veteran, will assume the role of acting secretary of the Navy, Parnell added.
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Phelan’s abrupt dismissal comes as the sea service continues to grapple with the ongoing conflict with Iran and in the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, a U.S. Navy destroyer operating in the Arabian Sea enforced the service’s ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports when it fired its Mk-45 gun at a cargo vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port.
Wednesday’s announcement also comes less than three weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and immediately retire.
That April 2 move involving George, one of three significant changes made by Hegseth on the same day, cut short George’s tenure, which began in September 2023, well before the end of the typical four-year term.
Gen. David Horne, a former Army Ranger who had been overseeing the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green, the Army chief of chaplains, were also removed from their roles on April 2.
Since taking office, Hegseth has fired over a dozen generals and admirals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.
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