Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has replaced FBI Director Kash Patel as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an unprecedented move for the civilian head of the largest military service.
Driscoll’s new dual-hat role — confirmed by two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about personnel matters — puts a Pentagon official in charge of the law enforcement agency for the first time in its 50-year history.
It marks an abrupt shift atop the Justice Department office, which usually has its own director. The move also comes as the Army looks to cut thousands of civilian jobs and potentially consolidate its force.
A handful of top military officials hold two roles, although none across two distinct government agencies. This includes Gen. Chris Cavoli, who serves as both NATO’s supreme allied commander and the head of U.S. European Command, and Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who is acting as the chief of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command after his predecessor was fired by the Trump administration last week.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Justice Department responded to requests for comment.
The role is likely to compound the already long to-do list of the Army secretary, who was traveling in Germany on Wednesday when the news broke.
The Pentagon is undergoing a review of its overseas troop numbers, which could lead to thousands of Army servicemembers leaving Europe. The Army also is working to slash 8 percent of its budget and reinvest in the Pentagon’s new priorities, part of an order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for all services.
Army civilians began getting offers to apply for deferred resignation on Monday, according to an email obtained by POLITICO. That offer will be good until next week. And the Army has until Friday to propose new organizational charts that reduce civilian staffing levels and cut agencies that aren’t deemed necessary.
The service has tried to cut costs elsewhere in recent weeks, including shutting down the satellite campuses for the Command and General Staff College, the service’s graduate school.
