US Army’s top civilian leader resigns as it grapples with two wars

New York: US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, who has clashed repeatedly with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over the removal of key combat-tested army leaders, has handed in his resignation to President Donald Trump, administration officials say.

Driscoll’s resignation on Monday was expected, but it comes at a tumultuous time, as the military’s largest service faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defence soldiers are playing the leading role in defending American troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks.

The army’s command in Europe is also providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.

In the meantime, Hegseth has initiated a series of firings and feuds that have left the army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded US bases in the Middle East.

Driscoll met Trump in person to hand in his resignation and discuss the current state of the army, said one official, who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

The army has not had a chief of staff, the service’s top officer, since Hegseth fired General Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position, officials said.

Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to George.

Now, the army will also be without a civilian leader, at least until Trump appoints a new army secretary. The resignation of Driscoll, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as the midterms approach, and it may be difficult to get a replacement confirmed soon.

Hegseth has indicated that he would like to see Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, in the job.

Parnell served as an officer in Afghanistan, but his tenure as the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson has been buffeted by controversy. Parnell recently fired three journalists at Stars and Stripes, a federally funded but independent news organisation.

The journalists sued the government last week, claiming that the Pentagon had fired them in retaliation for writing about the worsening conditions on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which was recently deployed in the Middle East.

Parnell also led an effort to restrict reporters’ access within the Pentagon. The moves prompted The New York Times to sue the Pentagon on the grounds that the policy violated the First Amendment.

Parnell withdrew from a Senate race in November 2021 after a judge ruled that his estranged wife should have primary custody of their three children in a case in which she accused him of spousal and child abuse. The order was later vacated, and Parnell has shared custody with his wife for several years, a Pentagon official said.

Parnell, who spoke at the 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was nearly assassinated, had a strong relationship with the president, officials said. But senior administration officials said Parnell would probably struggle to be confirmed by the closely divided Senate.

Driscoll, a 40-year-old army first lieutenant, was until recently seen as a potential candidate to replace Hegseth if he decided to step down or fell out of favour with Trump.

He garnered more support on Capitol Hill than Hegseth, who has a combative relationship with the Democrats and even some Republicans on the key House and Senate committees that oversee the Pentagon.

Driscoll, in contrast, was viewed by many in Congress as one of the few Trump administration Pentagon officials who could work with lawmakers in both parties, two congressional aides said.

While Hegseth has tried to limit direct communications between military officials and lawmakers, Driscoll has responded to requests from Republicans and Democrats alike in the armed services committees, the aides said.

During Driscoll’s nomination hearings, Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed him to commit to allowing the army to repair its own equipment instead of sending it back to defence contractors.

Months later, Driscoll did so, putting the policy, known as “right to repair”, in place and earning a rare plaudit for a Trump administration official from a Democratic lawmaker (and one who had voted against his nomination).

But Driscoll told Trump that he was frustrated with Hegseth’s removal of so many proven army leaders and his blocking of the promotions of a number of colonels who had worked for people he did not like, two officials said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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