Pete Hegseth gains the upper hand in Pentagon power struggle

Pete Hegseth has gained the upper hand in a Pentagon power struggle after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned, ending a push to reshape the Army into a leaner, more technology-focused force.

According to people familiar with the internal dynamics, Driscoll’s modernization agenda increasingly collided with Hegseth’s priorities. Driscoll wanted the Army to prepare for future conflicts by investing in emerging technologies, accelerating weapons procurement and reducing its footprint. Hegseth and acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve repeatedly challenged those efforts, the people said.

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He was in an untenable position.

“He was in an untenable position,” one U.S. official said. “He set out from day one to transform the Army and make it ready for the next big fight, technologically and even on the acquisition side, to figure out how we could buy stuff cheaper and faster. And seemingly at every turn, Secretary Hegseth tried to block those efforts.”

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He set out from day one to transform the Army and make it ready for the next big fight, technologically and even on the acquisition side, to figure out how we could buy stuff cheaper and faster. And seemingly at every turn, Secretary Hegseth tried to block those efforts.

Another person familiar with Driscoll’s final meeting with President Donald Trump said he “did not mince words” when discussing his concerns about the service’s future. Driscoll also objected to Hegseth’s decisions to block promotions for officers, including many women and minorities, and to remove senior military leaders. He warned that such moves could damage modernization efforts.

Driscoll and Deputy Army Undersecretary Dave Fitzgerald, who is also expected to leave, had worked with former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George on uncrewed systems and efforts to attract private capital. Their initiatives included a counter-drone task force in Europe, canceled by LaNeve last month, expanding artificial intelligence, bringing smaller technology firms into the defense industry and building data centers on Army installations.

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He did not mince words with the president.

The Army and Defense Department said some of Driscoll’s signature programs would continue. These include replenishing Patriot missile interceptors, attracting Silicon Valley investment to the defense industrial base and deploying lower-cost air-defense systems. Even so, the departures have left the future of the Army’s modernization push uncertain. “My big fear is everything will just kind of snap back in place,” a U.S. official said. “If you take your foot off the gas for one minute, momentum dies.”

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My big fear is everything will just kind of snap back in place. If you take your foot off the gas for one minute, momentum dies.