10th Mountain Division soldiers receive their golden spurs

President Donald Trump's surprise nominee for Army[1] 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.

Read Next: Trump Orders Pentagon Policy Saying Transgender Troops Are 'Not Consistent' with Military Ideals[2]

"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.

Dan 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. (Dan Driscoll for Congress Facebook page)

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[3] 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.

Related: Watchdogs at Pentagon, VA Fired in Purge of Inspectors General Across Federal Government[4]

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Marines hike during mountain training exercise

President Donald Trump footstomped his agenda to remove all diversity efforts within the ranks on Monday evening by issuing an executive order directly related to the military, a move that comes as the services are working to comply with similar actions issued on his first day in office.

The executive order titled "Restoring America's Fighting Force" aims to "abolish every [diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI] office within the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security," meaning it would apply to all the uniformed services -- including the Coast Guard[1].

Trump's order comes on the heels of his first executive orders signed last week, which already sent the military services scrambling to remove anything they deemed would be related to diversity efforts. Initial actions included removing Air Force[2] groups that advocated for better quality-of-life changes, canceling a wide range of seemingly unrelated Navy[3] policies, and stopping all outward-facing media related to diversity in the Army[4].

Read Next: Trump Orders Pentagon Policy Saying Transgender Troops Are 'Not Consistent' with Military Ideals[5]

"The EO [executive order] and DEI efforts signed last night extend the original EO from issues that more broadly affected all government employees to the specific implementation for uniformed service members," Katherine Kuzminski, the deputy director of studies and the director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told Military.com on Tuesday.

The removal of those diversity efforts in the military was one of several defense-related executive orders signed Monday evening.

While some specific policies related to Trump's executive actions have been cut, none of the services has provided a comprehensive explanation or list of what is deemed in violation of the executive orders. The Pentagon on Tuesday was still unpacking what the latest directive means for the Department of Defense.

"The Department of Defense will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the

executive orders issued by the president, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency and in alignment with national security objectives. We will provide status updates as we are able," according to a department statement.

Implementation of Trump's initial executive order last week seemingly caused widespread confusion among the services, and even led to the Air Force temporarily removing educational material related to the historic Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots during World War II from the service's boot camp curriculum. The courses were reinstated days after being removed[6] for review if the lessons were in violation of the president's orders.

Notably, Trump's order asks the military to "carefully review the leadership, curriculum and instructors of the United States service academies and other defense academic institutions associated with their respective departments to ensure alignment with this order."

Some programs within the services seem like they may be a clear target for Trump's executive order, such as the Air Force's 2022 initiative to recruit more diverse candidates into the officer corps.

Military.com reported last month[7] that the service failed to reach many of its aspirational and lofty diversity goals in the 2023 and 2024 school years for the Air Force Academy[8] and Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC[9]. Air Force officials have not disclosed the status of that program to Military.com.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have 30 days to provide guidance to their respective departments, the order says.

Additionally, in 10 days, Hegseth and Noem must submit a report "documenting the progress of their respective departments in implementing this order."

Related: Tuskegee Airmen, WASP History Will Stay in Air Force Boot Camp Curriculum Following Outcry[10]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[11].

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Department of Defense logo

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's nominee to be the military's top weapons buyer is an official who directed the Pentagon to withhold aid from Ukraine in 2019[1] as Trump sought a commitment from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the Biden family — a key component of the impeachment of Trump[2] in his first term.

That relationship is raising questions among some senators about whether the nominee will follow the law if confirmed for a powerful new position that oversees a budget of $311 billion.

Michael Duffey, Trump's nominee to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, served as the associate director at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term.

In that job, he directed the Pentagon in July 2019 to place the hold[3] on $391 million in security assistance for Ukraine. It continued until mid-September as Trump tried to secure an announcement from Zelenskyy about investigating Trump's 2020 election rival Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden on corruption charges tied to the younger Biden's role with the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

Withholding money for a policy reason is a violation of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act[4], which prohibits the executive branch from freezing funds appropriated by Congress, the branch controlling the power of the purse. The hold on Ukraine aid became a key factor in lawmakers' party-line vote to impeach Trump in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate later acquitted[5] him.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Duffey that his role in withholding aid “raises concerns” about whether he will follow the law if approved for the powerful Pentagon position that oversees a large weapons-buying budget. It has been a gatekeeper for generating more than $66 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Kori Schake, a senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said Duffey's budget-office experience was valuable and should make him an effective weapons buyer for the Pentagon.

But “he and others who favor presidential impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds should be made to commit in confirmation hearings to expending what Congress appropriates,” Schake said.

Warren sent Duffey more than 40 questions in advance of his Senate confirmation hearing that not only seek more information about his part in the 2019 aid pause but ask whether he would be responsive to congressional oversight because he did not comply with a subpoena to testify during Congress' impeachment investigation.

That refusal “bodes poorly for your plans to be honest and open with Congress and the American people when overseeing acquisitions and contracts for programs that uphold our national security,” Warren said in her letter to Duffey.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment Monday about Duffey's nomination or whether his nomination signaled a change in direction for weapons support to Ukraine.

Trump was impeached a second time in 2021 following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka’s (CFAY) Multi-Cultural Committee hosted a 2019 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month observance.

President Donald Trump has moved to again ban transgender people from serving in the military.

In an executive order signed Monday night, Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to craft a policy on transgender troops that reflects the administration's policy that being transgender is "not consistent" with military service.

The order leaves most of the details to the Pentagon to figure out, including what will happen to currently serving transgender troops. But the language in the order goes far beyond arguments that transgender troops present medical challenges to the military and attacks the very idea of being transgender, suggesting Trump is aiming for a more extensive ban than during his first time in office.

Read Next: Tuskegee Airmen, WASP History Will Stay in Air Force Boot Camp Curriculum Following Outcry[1]

"Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life," the order says in its "purpose" section. "A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."

The order, which follows actions Trump took last week[2] to lay the groundwork for it, gives the Pentagon 30 days to report back on its plans to implement the directive and 60 days to actually update its policy on transgender troops so it reflects the purpose of the executive order and the administration's policy that "high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity and integrity" are inconsistent with being transgender.

One part of the order appears to go into effect immediately: a mandate that, "absent extraordinary operational necessity," the military must separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms by sex assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. That would mean transgender men have to use women's facilities, and transgender women would have to use men's facilities, regardless of what stage of their transition they are in. It also directs Hegseth to "promptly" issue policies to end the use of pronouns that align with gender identity.

The language of the executive order also maligns mental health issues broadly, after years of the military trying with varying degrees of success to reduce the stigma around seeking that type of health care. The purpose of the order states that "many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality and prior psychiatric hospitalization."

In a statement attributed only to a defense official, the Pentagon said Tuesday it "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives."

Hegseth, on his personal social media account, also posted Monday night[3] that "we will execute" the transgender order and other military-related orders Trump signed that night.

Speaking to Military.com on Monday in anticipation of the executive order, Laila Ireland, a transgender Army[4] veteran who is now a civilian federal employee, and her husband, Logan, a currently serving transgender member of the Air Force, said they are ready to continue serving their country as long as they are allowed to.

"When I'm overseas, and let's say we're in a conflict situation where rounds are coming down range, the men and women to my left and right don't care that I'm trans," Logan Ireland said. "They care about me being able to lay effective fire down range and then come to their aid."

Kicking out transgender troops, many of whom serve in senior enlisted ranks, would also "erase decades of institutional knowledge and leadership essential to maintaining operational excellence," added Laila Ireland.

"We're gonna continue to put on our boots and put on our uniform the way that we have before," she said. "We will continue to keep pushing forward because this fight does not just affect trans service members. This fight affects everyone. And when we begin to see that bigger picture, when a lot of folks begin to see the bigger picture and the impact it's going to have, I think at that point we might be too late."

Transgender troops were first allowed to serve openly at the end of the Obama administration in 2016.

But, during Trump's first term in 2017, he announced on social media that he would "not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."

The formal Pentagon policy that resulted from Trump's social media pronouncement was somewhat more narrow because it allowed transgender troops who came out under the Obama administration policy to keep serving in their gender identity.

Former President Joe Biden lifted Trump's ban during his first week in office in 2021, and transgender troops have been serving openly with no reported issues since then.

On Tuesday, Trump's GOP allies in Congress cheered the return of a transgender military ban.

"President Trump has made it clear: Our military will be focused on protecting our nation," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement on the transgender ban and other executive orders. "No longer will our military waste time implementing the far-left woke policies of the Biden administration. Our warfighters will be focused on lethality, capability and readiness."

Unlike the order issued Monday that contends that simply being transgender goes against military values, the policy in the first administration focused on medical treatment.

Fears and speculation that Trump would enact a full ban this time and kick out currently serving transgender troops have been swirling since he was elected in November after promising on the campaign trail that he would order "every federal agency to cease the promotion of sex or gender transition at any age."

During his confirmation process, Hegseth repeatedly sidestepped questions about LGBTQ+ troops. Earlier this month, when asked in written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee whether he has any evidence that transgender troops harm readiness, he said only that he was "committed to ensuring that the department's accessions and medical standards provide the structure necessary to create a ready and lethal force."

If the Pentagon were to kick out currently serving transgender troops, it's unclear how many service members would be affected.

Pentagon officials have repeatedly said they do not track the number of transgender troops. But a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that officials are aware of how many troops have an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria, though those numbers were not readily available.

Gender dysphoria is the medical term for the distress that's caused when someone's gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth, and not all transgender people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

A Rand Corp. study from 2016 estimated that somewhere between 1,300 and 6,600 transgender troops were serving at that time. Meanwhile, in a number often cited by advocacy groups, a 2014 report from the University of California Los Angeles' Williams Institute estimated that up to 15,500 transgender adults were serving in the military.

Several lawsuits were filed against the ban on transgender troops during Trump's first term. While advocates had some earlier success in getting courts to block the ban while the lawsuits worked their way through the legal system, the Supreme Court ultimately allowed the ban to take effect in 2019.

Groups who backed the lawsuits challenging the ban in the first Trump administration, including Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal,[5] the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, are already vowing to sue again.

"This is an unprincipled policy based on bias, not facts," Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, said in a written statement. "Skill, discipline and courage are what matter to military service. A reckless ban that subjects qualified service members to discharge because of who they are is not only unconstitutional, it is destabilizing to the military itself."

-- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this story.

Related: Transgender Troops, Confronting Shifting Policies of Acceptance, Just Want to Serve[6]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[7].

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