Pentagon turf war ramps up between Hegseth and Driscoll 

A simmering battle for influence between Pete Hegseth and the Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has reached new heights with the Defense secretary’s purge of senior Army officials last week. 

Tensions flared when Driscoll was picked last year by President Trump to negotiate with Ukrainian officials in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war, according to two former U.S.  officials familiar with the dynamics. A current U.S. official said Hegseth’s “paranoia” has been heightened in recent weeks as the president has fired two Cabinet officials.

“He’s just really uncomfortable with anyone who could potentially be outshining him,” the current official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics, told The Hill about Hegseth.

The Pentagon pushed back, saying The Hill’s “sources are serving up fake news to anyone gullible enough to write about it.” 

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement that Hegseth “maintains excellent working relationships with the secretaries of every service branch,” including Driscoll.  

However, a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the dynamics, said Hegseth’s team “believes they’ve uncovered proof that Driscoll has become a resistance figure within the Pentagon not only against Hegseth, but against President Trump as well.”

Hegseth, a former infantry platoon leader who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has axed more than a dozen senior military leaders who had backed diversity efforts he derided as “woke” or viewed as too cozy with the previous administration.

Hegseth’s firing of Driscoll’s widely respected chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, along with two other senior military officials last week, stunned defense officials as the U.S. is engaged in a war against Iran, the current official said. The firing came on the heels of the Pentagon chief ending the suspension of the Army crew who flew a pair of military helicopters near Kid Rock’s house in Tennessee, undercutting an Army investigation into the incident.  

The ouster of George prompted some Republicans to rally behind the decorated general, who deployed in support of Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. On Capitol Hill, it has shaken some GOP lawmakers who have largely backed Hegseth despite a series of scandals during his tenure, according to the first former U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. 

“There’s concern about the state and health of DoW going forward, if you get rid of good — really good — generals for no reason, and therefore they have concerns about Hegseth himself,” the first official said, referring to the Department of War, the administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense. 

Driscoll, meanwhile, has won plaudits from both sides of the aisle. Among the three service secretaries, including the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Driscoll is doing the best job, a Democratic congressional aide told The Hill on Wednesday.

After Hegseth’s rocky confirmation process, in which Democrats blasted his past issues with alcohol and infidelity, the Defense secretary’s first rough patch at the Pentagon came when he shared sensitive military information in a Signal group chat that included The Atlantic’s editor in chief. 

That was also the first time Hegseth became concerned about his standing in the Cabinet and on alert for leaks to the media, according to the second former official. Driscoll, a close ally of Vice President Vance, has long been rumored as a potential successor to Hegseth, should he get fired. 

“He sees that Driscoll is a natural successor to him,” the second ex-official said, adding that the White House told Hegseth that he cannot get rid of the Army secretary. 

Instead, Hegseth has sought to sideline and undercut Driscoll with moves like the firing of George and another one of Driscoll’s top advisers, Col. Dave Butler, two months ago.

“It’s a way for him to … look, I’m going to signal that I’m in charge of your people. I’m going to try to undermine your leadership,” the current official said, adding Hegseth is “just trying to knock the Army down a few pegs so that he feels safer.” 

The White House lauded both political appointees when asked about Driscoll’s standing. 

“President Trump has effectively restored a focus on readiness and lethality across our military with the help of leaders like Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Driscoll,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday.

George was reportedly directly involved in another flash point between Hegseth and Driscoll last week, when the Pentagon secretary quashed the suspension of the crew who flew the AH-64 Apache helicopter near Kid’s Rock estate in Nashville. 

Some Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee told The Hill that the service branch should have been left alone to conduct a probe and mete out punishment as appropriate. George, who has more than four decades of experience in the Army, was also in favor of the probe, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. 

Retired Marine Col. William Dunn took a similar stance in comments to The Hill last week. He said an investigation wasn’t necessary, given the obvious violation of Army code, but that it wasn’t Hegseth’s call either way. 

“No one should intervene with the squadron commander’s prerogative to discipline his pilots.  Having the SECWAR step in to stop discipline is a bad precedent. It doesn’t matter if it is Kid Rock’s house,” he said in an email. “We have rules and procedures set in place to keep people on the ground safe as well as to protect the pilots.” 

The friction between Hegseth and Driscoll has also come up over the Defense secretary’s blocking promotions of military officers, according to current and former officials. 

Former officials said that with Trump ousting Kristi Noem, the former Department of Homeland Security secretary, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Hegseth is increasingly worried about being removed. 

The first former U.S. official said they do not think Trump will swap out Hegseth during the war with Iran, but that Driscoll “has been mentioned in circles if the secretary was ever left for whatever reason, that Driscoll was high on the list of potential replacements.” 

Asked about the tension with Hegseth, Driscoll said in a statement to The Hill, “I have no plans to depart or resign as the Secretary of the Army.”

“Serving under President Trump has been the honor of a lifetime and I remain laser focused on providing America with the strongest land fighting force the world has ever seen,” he added. 

Kevin Carroll, a retired Army reserve colonel who has served in the offices of secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff, said Driscoll does not appear to be actively trying to undermine Hegseth’s authority or public image. 

“From what I’ve seen in the press, and from whatever it’s worth, what I hear from people in the Army, it’s not like Driscoll is scheming and plotting to make Hegseth look bad. I mean, Hegseth takes care of that himself on a regular basis. It’s just, it’s all just very strange. And it’s just irresponsible,” Carroll said in an interview with The Hill. 

The Pentagon official disputed that assessment, claiming the White House had sidelined Driscoll for “fumbling” Ukraine negotiations. 

“In the past few weeks, insiders in Driscoll’s office have been telling Hegseth and his team about strategy sessions led by Driscoll for the purpose of how to best undermine the secretary and the administration,” they said. “Hegseth has tried to work with Driscoll in good faith and play nice, but Driscoll’s subversion has made the relationship untenable.”

A source with knowledge told The Hill on Wednesday that they are “not sure where the information is coming from,” adding Driscoll is “closely involved in the negotiations with Ukrainian officials.”

Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, has told some within the department privately that he is interested in Driscoll’s post if it opens up, according to a current and former U.S. official. Parnell’s interest was first reported by the New York Post. Parnell did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on his ambitions.  

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Hill on Wednesday that “anyone claiming Sean is pushing himself” for Driscoll’s post is an “obvious outsider spewing nonsense.”

“Every senior leader in the Department knows Sean is laser focused” on his current roles, including the head of Pentagon’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel and the department’s Recruiting Task Force, and is not “looking for another role and has zero time for political gamesmanship,” they added. 

Parnell ran in Pennsylvania for a House seat in 2020 but lost to former Rep. Conor Lamb (D). The next year, he ran for Senate, with the endorsement of Trump, but ended his campaign amid a legal battle with his estranged wife, who accused him of abuse. Parnell has denied wrongdoing. 

So far, the commander-in-chief has expressed steadfast public support for both Hegseth and Driscoll. 

“All I can say is that he was treated very unfairly, and now those same people that treated him unfairly, that fought against him, they called me up saying what a great choice he was,” Trump said of Hegseth during a Monday press conference at the White House. 

“I’m telling you, people that were not for him — senators, friends of mine, ‘Sir, I don’t think you’re doing the right thing,’ now to call me up — what a choice,” he added. 

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