Throughout Pete Hegseth's months as defense secretary for the second Trump administration, his relationship with Pentagon officials has been tumultuous. And according to CNN, that includes his relationship with U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
In an article published by CNN on September 12, reporters Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen and Haley Britzky explain, "Hegseth's tactics can be ruthless. In April, following a series of leaks he believed made him look bad, Hegseth fired three senior Pentagon officials — two of whom were close friends that had worked with him for years — and publicly accused them of being leakers. Those accusations were never proven. Hegseth also threatened senior Pentagon officials, including then-Acting Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Chris Grady, with polygraph tests and leak investigations."
The CNN journalists continue, "Hegseth refused to sign off on a promotion for 34-year Army veteran, Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, who had been serving as the director of the Joint Staff, because he believed he was leaking to undermine him and had been too close to retired Gen. Mark Milley, a fierce Trump critic, sources said. Grady and Sims both denied the accusations, which weren't proven, sources said. Sims is set to retire soon."
According to Bertrand, Cohen and Britzky, it didn't take long for Hegseth to become resentful of Driscoll, who, sources told CNN, is much easier to get along with than the former Fox News host.
A Pentagon source, interviewed on condition of anonymity, said of Driscoll, "He's non-threatening, he's charming, he's not explosive like Hegseth is. He's just a go-along-to-get-along kind of guy. The better Driscoll looks, the worse it is for Hegseth."
Another Pentagon source, also quoted anonymously, told CNN, "If Driscoll starts getting too prominent, or too favored, it makes it a lot easier politically to just let Hegseth go somehow or find an offramp."
Bertrand, Cohen and Britzky report, "Hegseth's wariness of Driscoll is emblematic of his larger fixation with undermining or removing anyone he perceives as a threat to his public image and standing with Trump, regardless of their expertise or experience, a dozen current and former officials told CNN. Questions about Hegseth's longevity in the job have swirled almost from the beginning of his tenure. And Driscoll's name was increasingly brought up, including inside the White House, as a possible replacement for Hegseth after a series of high-profile missteps by the defense secretary in the spring — to Hegseth's great irritation, sources said."
Read the full CNN article at this link.