President Donald Trump’s surprise nominee for Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, heads into his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday as a largely unknown figure both inside and outside the Pentagon.
The relatively obscure financier and political adviser, who is also a veteran, is set to lead the Pentagon’s largest branch despite a resume that some Army officials behind the scenes are concerned lacks the depth for such a pivotal role.
Driscoll, a former Yale Law School classmate of Vice President J.D. Vance, fits a pattern of Trump nominations designed to upend Washington’s norms by elevating outsiders to senior positions. The president’s choice of appointees, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has also led to criticism that some of those outsiders are unqualified.
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“The Army is an extremely complicated machine. I hope he’s up for it,” an Army two-star general said on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. “We have a lot of moving pieces, a lot of vocabulary he’s going to have to learn fast.”
If confirmed, Driscoll would come into the role effectively an unknown figure to most of the force, having never worked in national security. He would also be unusually young for the role at 38 years old.
“No one really knows who he is,” a senior Army official told Military.com, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the press. The lack of name recognition is compounded by Driscoll having virtually no contemporary online presence, with little social media, scant news appearances and few photos. Driscoll’s military career, while honorable, was abnormally brief for an officer.
Driscoll served in the Army from 2007 to 2010 as a cavalry officer with the 10th Mountain Division. He deployed to Iraq in 2009 and left the service as a first lieutenant — a junior officer rank that wouldn’t have exposed him to operational planning or organizational leadership at scale.
His military accolades include an Army Commendation Medal, Ranger tab, and a Combat Action Badge, but his time in uniform would have involved leading no more than a few dozen soldiers at a time.
Immediately after leaving the Army, Driscoll attended Yale Law School before pursuing a series of finance roles, including work at a venture capital firm and political fundraising. In 2020, he made an unsuccessful bid for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, finishing sixth in a crowded Republican primary. He was endorsed by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the most vocal members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Army personnel issues.
The seat ultimately went to Madison Cawthorn, whose single term was scarred by controversies and scandal.
Driscoll later served as an adviser to the Trump-Vance transition team and the Republican National Committee, earning $60,000.
His last full-time role was on the board of OnCall Physician Staffing, a health care staffing agency, and he drew an annual salary of nearly $430,000 since 2021 before stepping down in December.
Despite his limited military experience, Driscoll’s hearing is expected to be less contentious than that of Hegseth, who endured questions about allegations of sexual assault and a thin professional record.
If confirmed, Driscoll will succeed Christine Wormuth, who spent a career as a national security wonk and served as under secretary of defense for policy under President Barack Obama before taking the reins as Army secretary.
Mark Esper, who served as Army secretary during Trump’s first term before being appointed defense secretary, had an extensive military career, serving in the 101st Airborne Division during the Gulf War and leaving the service as a lieutenant colonel. His resume also included extensive national security policy experience on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon under President George W. Bush.
Still, one Senate staffer forecasted that, while Driscoll’s resume is “about as thin as it gets,” he’s coming into the hearing without any baggage, unlike many of Trump’s other nominees.
“He’s nice,” Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, told Military.com, adding that he and Driscoll met at a recent Army-Navy football game.
Hegseth was approved in a Senate vote last week by the slimmest margin for any confirmed defense secretary in history, with three Republicans voting against him. He faced a blistering volley of questions over allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual assault, infidelity in his marriages, and a lack of qualifications for the job. He had a generally average National Guard career, and his most recent professional experience was as a Fox News personality.
Meanwhile, Driscoll would lead the Army at an especially difficult time for the force.
Senior officials have long pointed to the service being spread thin in Europe, the Middle East and Africa — with a new U.S. border surge adding yet another mission to an overburdened force. That high tempo has been linked to suicide amoung the rank and file.
The service is also expected to revamp its much troubled physical fitness test this year and is grappling with a series of quality-of-life issues, including dilapidated living quarters for junior troops and the inability of logistics officials to wrap their arms around providing food for soldiers.
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