Dan Driscoll resigned as secretary of the Army on Aug. 31, 2026. His departure leaves the Army without a Senate-confirmed civilian leader six months into the war with Iran, its busiest period since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Driscoll’s resignation was reportedly motivated, at least in part, by his frustration with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Earlier in August, Hegseth had blocked the promotions of four Army officers.

Since his appointment in January 2025, Hegseth has fired or blocked the promotions of more than 80 admirals and generals. Often, Hegseth has referenced “woke” diversity efforts in his reasoning. One officer who was blocked had written a paper while in graduate school about the impact of political polarization on recruiting. Another officer had his name pulled from the promotion list after officials incorrectly believed that he had allowed a mentorship group for female paratroopers to exist in his unit.

More than half of the officers removed have been women or Black in an officer corps that is 79% male and 74% white.

Hegseth’s blocking of promotions and apparent targeting of women and Black people appear to violate military rules meant to protect against the politicization of the military’s officer corps and have undermined faith in the military’s promotion system, which is supposed to be merit-based.

I’ve spent years studying the U.S. military and have written a book on diversity and military recruiting. In my assessment, Hegseth is building a military that fits a narrow ideological view at the cost of its service members’ safety and well-being.

Recruiting isn’t ideological

The Army exceeded its recruiting goal of 60,500 new enlistees in fiscal year 2025 and has already hit its targets........

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