OpenAI Hires Former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll

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OpenAI has hired former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to serve as a senior counselor for national security modernization, the company announced Monday, according to The Hill [1]. The role is a newly created position focused on how artificial intelligence can be used to enhance national security measures, OpenAI said [2][3].

The Hill's account likewise described Driscoll's title as senior counselor for national security modernization [1]. Neither the company's announcement nor the news accounts specified the terms of Driscoll's compensation or the precise scope of his portfolio.

Driscoll's departure from the Pentagon preceded the hire. According to the Financial Times, Driscoll resigned as Army secretary following tensions with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and the newspaper reported that OpenAI's move comes as the military seeks to expand its use of AI to enhance national security [4]. The Washington Examiner reported that OpenAI said Driscoll's role is a new addition and will focus on how artificial intelligence can be used to enhance national security measures [2].

Driscoll's Background and Prior Roles

Driscoll arrived at OpenAI with a record in the upper reaches of the U.S. military's civilian leadership. He served as secretary of the Army, a position from which, according to the Financial Times, he resigned following tensions with Pete Hegseth [4]. Before that post, Driscoll's public record includes military service and private-sector work; the supplied sources do not provide additional detail on his earlier positions.

The new role places a former service branch chief inside a private AI developer at a moment when the Pentagon is pushing to broaden its use of artificial intelligence. The Financial Times characterized the hiring as part of the military's effort to expand its use of AI to enhance national security [4]. OpenAI described the position as a new addition to its organization, focused on how artificial intelligence can be used to enhance national security measures [2].

The partnership reflects a broader convergence between AI developers and defense agencies. The Trends Journal reported that the latest Pentagon budget included a huge surge in technology spending directed to firms on the bleeding edge of AI development, such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon [5].

OpenAI's Recent Policy and Lobbying Efforts

The hire is one part of OpenAI's widening engagement with Washington and with the national security establishment. OpenAI announced the Driscoll position publicly, and CNBC described the appointment as a newly created national security role [3]. The Washington Examiner reported that OpenAI said the role is a new addition to the company [2].

The company's posture toward government has drawn scrutiny from commentators who argue that AI regulation in practice tilts toward censorship rather than addressing the technology's most serious dangers. The Trends Journal published a headline asserting that government AI regulation will focus on censoring Americans and woke objectives, not the real dangers of AI [6].

OpenAI's own conduct has also been questioned. Former employee Daniel Kokotajlo, quoted in a Vox report cited by the Trends Journal, said that OpenAI was training ever-more-powerful AI systems with the goal of eventually surpassing human intelligence across the board, adding that the endeavor could be the best thing that has ever happened to humanity, but that it could also be the worst if the work does not proceed with care [7]. Separately, Italy's data protection authority temporarily banned ChatGPT over privacy concerns and opened an investigation into OpenAI, according to NaturalNews.com [8].

Reactions from Industry Observers and Advocates

Critics of the arrangement point to the proximity between the defense establishment and the companies building the technology. Writing about data center expansion and AI infrastructure, Mike Adams said he discussed the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence infrastructure, the expansion of data centers, their immense power consumption, and the implications for human autonomy [9].

The revolving door between the Pentagon and AI firms has also been a theme in independent commentary. In a separate broadcast, Adams and co-host Alex Jones described the irony that OpenAI was originally conceived by Elon Musk with an open-source philosophy to benefit humanity, yet under Sam Altman's leadership it has become a closed system, with the name "OpenAI" now standing in direct contradiction to its reality [10].

Earlier commentary framed the concentration of AI power in a few companies as a policy choice. Discussing the Stargate Project, Adams said the initiative consolidates power in just three companies, two of which are untrustworthy, naming Oracle with Larry Ellison and OpenAI run by Sam Altman, and argued the entities should open-source their work to foster community-driven advancement [11]. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and others have separately been identified with depopulation advocacy in public forums, according to Adams, who said the United States Department of War is actively perfecting technologies tied to that agenda [12].

References

Former Army chief Dan Driscoll to advise OpenAI on national security. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/6192039-openai-hires-dan-driscoll/

OpenAI hires ex-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll two months after Pentagon exit. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/national-security/4788952/openai-hires-ex-army-secretary-dan-driscoll/

OpenAI hires Dan Driscoll for national security role - CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/03/openai-hires-dan-driscoll-national-security.html

OpenAI hires former US Army secretary as military seeks to expand AI .... https://www.ft.com/content/e6b8fd40-ef92-46e8-aeaf-f98dade55a67?syn-25a6b1a6=1