Ideas

Hegseth’s Pentagon Lurches off the Rails

The resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is the latest sign of severe dysfunction in the Defense Department.

First published in The Atlantic on August 31, 2026.

by Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

September 3, 2026 | reading time: 6 Min.

Making Pete Hegseth the secretary of defense was always a huge gamble. A television host with little background in national-security or defense affairs, who topped out as a major in the National Guard, he was nominated based on the same qualification shared by most of Donald Trump’s other appointees: loyalty. And now the price of that gamble is evident. The Pentagon is careening offtrack under a secretary of defense who is firing or forcing the resignations of officers and civilian officials, not because they are unqualified but because he believes they are insufficiently loyal to him, personally.