Hegseth orders Army Secretary to remove Col Butler from public affairs role
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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current position as chief of Army Public Affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll, who is currently serving on the negotiating team in Geneva to end the Ukraine war, Fox News has learned.
Butler served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s public affairs chief when Gen. Mark Milley was president and was scheduled to receive his first star. His name appeared two years in a row on the Army list of 34 officers selected for promotion.
This list has been held up by Hegseth for nearly four months because he reportedly has concerns about four to five officers selected by the Army board, but by law he cannot remove those officers from the list. Butler volunteered to remove his name from the promotion list if it would help unlock other promotions, according to an Army official.
Hegseth pressured the Army to fire Col. Dave Butler, right, seen here with CNN anchor Pamela Brown, Fox has learned. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for the General Catalyst Institute)
Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President J.D. Vance, attended Yale Law School with the vice president and for months resisted Hegseth’s pressure to fire Butler for his ongoing contributions to the Army’s transformation.
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“We greatly appreciate Col. Dave Butler’s lifelong service to America’s Army and to our nation,” Driscoll said in a statement. he said. “Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts, and I sincerely wish him great success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service.”
Butler traveled to Ukraine with Driscoll in November 2025 to help jump-start negotiations.
According to information obtained by Fox News, Hegseth’s request came on Thursday.
Fox News has learned that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current position serving as chief of Army Public Affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
Hegseth entered the Pentagon in 2025 and immediately began firing top officers or forcing them into early retirement without cause or reason: Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who serves as Chief of Naval Operations, Gen. C.Q. Brown, who serves as Chief of Staff, Gen. James Mingus, who serves as vice chief of the Army, Gen. Douglas A. Sims, who is the director of the Joint Staff, Gen. David Allvin, who is the commander of the Air Force, Gen. James Slife, who is vice chairman of the Air Force and Homeland Security. The agency’s director, Gen. Timothy Haugh, is among others.
The unexplained layoffs have led to fear, uncertainty and reluctance to speak out among senior military leaders.
An Army veteran and close ally of Vice President J.D. Vance, Driscoll attended Yale Law School with the Vice President and for months resisted pressure from Hegseth to fire Colonel Butler for his continued contributions to the transformation of the Army. (Cheriss May/Getty Images)
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One of the Army’s top communicators, Butler served with the nation’s echelon special operations units on numerous overseas missions with the Army’s Delta Force from 2010–2014.
From 2015 to 2018, he served as a public affairs officer with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She worked as a public affairs officer for Gen. Scott Miller from 2016 to 2018, when he was commander of Joint Special Operations Command, and later, at Miller’s request, served in Afghanistan, where Miller served in Afghanistan from 2018 to 2019.
Butler served as chief spokesman and communications director for all U.S. and NATO forces during Miller’s tenure as the top 4-star general in Afghanistan.
Driscoll is currently in Geneva, serving on the negotiating team to end the Ukraine war. (Press Office of the President of Ukraine, via AP)
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A former 4-star commander who once commanded U.S. Special Operations said Butler was “a consummate professional, the most competent PR officer I have ever worked with, and a skilled practitioner of strategic communications.”
During the Army’s 250th birthday celebrations in 2025, President Donald Trump recognized Butler by name as he helped the Army chief organize the parade in Washington, D.C.
