Senate approves Daniel Driscoll as 26th Army secretary
Trump’s nominee to take the Army’s civilian reins was not viewed as a contentious pick and was approved on a 66-28 vote today.
Daniel Driscoll, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of the U.S. Army, speaks during a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Driscoll was questioned on a range of topics including Army retention rate. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The US Army is poised to get a new civilian leader after the Senate today approved Daniel Driscoll as the service’s 26th secretary.
Confirmed on a 66-28 vote, Driscoll’s nomination was publicly viewed as less controversial than others put forward by President Donald Trump.
It wasn’t immediately clear today when Driscoll would be sworn into office and officially take over the role as Army secretary. He will be greeted, though, with a service in the throes of modernizing its weapon portfolio, ramping up the defense industrial base and grappling with recruiting. The entire Pentagon is also working through a variety of changes and exercises ranging from each service identifying 8 percent of planned fiscal 2026 funding that can be redirected for other priorities to looming civilian cuts.
Driscoll — relatively unknown before his nomination, with a limited social media presence — previously served as an advisor to now-Vice President JD Vance, is a graduate of Yale Law School, a former Army soldier, and has spent time working in the private equity arena.
During his Senate Armed Services Committee hearing late last month, he seemingly garnered support from both sides of the aisle.
In a bit of a rarity for Washington, he received a bipartisan show of support with Sens Markwayne Mullen, R-Okla., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., both introducing him to the panel during the start of the hearing.
“I spoke to Dan a number of times in the course of his preparing for his appearance here today, and those conversations convinced me that he is willing to work on the basis of collegiality, to be transparent and open with this panel with the Congress and our colleagues,” Blumenthal said during his introduction.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI., the committee’s top Democrat, also seemingly threw his support behind Driscoll, saying he brings “integrity, intelligence and the experience of the young officer leading soldiers.”
