WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dan Driscoll to be the next Army secretary, voting 66-28 to put the former soldier and Iraq War veteran at the helm of the service.
Driscoll, 38, of North Carolina, had served as an adviser to Vice President JD Vance, whom he met when both were attending Yale Law School. He served in the Army for less than four years and left at the rank of first lieutenant.
During his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, Driscoll noted that his father and grandfather served in the Army and he vowed to be a secretary focused on the needs of soldiers.
“We are a family that is grateful to have had the privilege of wearing the uniform of the United States Army,” he said during the hearing. “We are a family that understands the gravity of leading soldiers in and out of combat.”
Driscoll takes over an Army that has been moving steadily to overcome recruiting shortfalls through a sweeping overhaul of its programs and staffing, while also revamping and modernizing its weapons systems.
He also will have to deal with the repercussions of the chaotic and confusing new personnel decisions coming out of the Trump administration’s campaign to slash the government workforce. Officials have to ensure that the cuts don’t erode national security.
Driscoll’s Senate hearing was largely unconfrontational and focused on how the Army could modernize its systems, improve recruiting and beef up the military industrial base.
Asked if he would work to implement reforms aimed at reducing sexual assault in the military, he said he wanted an Army that his daughter could join with no fear of such threats.
He said he would set a “culture where that is not tolerated in any way.”
He also got tough questions from senators on his willingness to follow the law.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., both pressed Driscoll on whether he would decline to follow unlawful orders from the president or defense secretary, including ones related to the use of active duty soldiers for law enforcement at the border.
He responded, “I reject the premise that the president or secretary of defense would ask for an order like that. But I will always follow the law.”
When asked by Slotkin if he would support revoking the pension of an honorably discharged Army officer, however, he declined to answer directly, saying the question was “hypothetical.”
Slotkin noted that the issue is not hypothetical and actually has come up in connection with potential political reprisals against retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump has already moved to strip Milley of his security clearance and protective detail.
Pushed for an answer, Driscoll said, “I do support the president’s right to execute a lawful order.”
Both Duckworth and Slotkin voted against him.
According to the Army, Driscoll served as an armor officer from August 2007 to March 2011, deploying to Iraq from October 2009 to July 2010.
He ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for a North Carolina congressional seat in 2020, getting about 8% of the vote in a crowded field of candidates.
