Former Army boss Dan Driscoll joins OpenAI as senior counselor
Dan Driscoll, who resigned from his position as secretary of the Army in August after reportedly clashing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined ChatGPT maker OpenAI as a “senior counselor for national security modernization,” the company announced Monday.
OpenAI has been landing major deals with the Pentagon and further boosting its defense business during the second Trump administration.
For example, in June 2025 the department announced that its Chief Digital and AI Office awarded a $200 million prototype Other Transaction agreement to OpenAI Public Sector to “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.”
In August of this year, officials said that users of the Pentagon’s enterprise generative artificial intelligence platform, GenAI.mil, had been given the ability to use approved versions of OpenAI’s ChatGPT models on that system.
During his time as Army secretary, Driscoll launched major modernization efforts, such as the Army Transformation Initiative, the service’s drone and counter-drone marketplaces and Operation Jailbreak.
“Our Soldiers, Civilians, and their Families are our Nation’s very best, and they have inspired me every day. I am sincerely thankful for their service and sacrifice,” Driscoll wrote in a social media post shortly after his resignation as Army boss. “I had the privilege of working with them to modernize and accelerate how the Army mans, trains, and equips the most lethal fighting force on the face of the earth.”
In his new role at OpenAI, Driscoll will be “working with senior leadership and external partners to advise on how advanced AI can strengthen national and cyber security, with a particular focus on working with U.S. allies to advance its responsible use,” the company said in a press release.
In the newly created position at the firm, he’ll also “work with OpenAI teams and leaders across governments, industry, academia, and allied institutions to advance practical modernization initiatives that support the buildout of democratic AI,” and “help internal OpenAI teams understand the operational needs of global national security institutions,” per the release.
In a statement, Driscoll said that national security requirements are changing faster than at any time in the past half century.
New technology will enable the military and others to “keep pace by cutting through paperwork, making sense of more information, and getting the right answer to the right person faster,” he said. “I’m joining OpenAI to help the United States and our allies put this technology to work responsibly, for the people who keep us safe.”
