Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigns

Driscoll served as the Army's top civilian leader, and his departure follows what NPR reported as an increasingly tense relationship with Hegseth that began almost immediately after both men took their posts. The friction apparently never resolved.

Hegseth has dismissed a number of top figures since taking over at the Pentagon, and Driscoll's exit adds to a string of departures that have reshaped the upper ranks of the U.S. Military in a short span of time.

For the roughly 8,000 soldiers and family members stationed at Reese Technology Center and other installations connected to the South Plains, leadership continuity at the top of the Army chain of command matters in ways that ripple down through assignments, funding, and readiness. A civilian secretary sets policy priorities that shape everything from base operations to deployment decisions. A vacancy at that level is not a minor administrative footnote.

Driscoll's 18-month tenure is among the shorter runs for an Army Secretary in recent decades.