Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current position as chief of Army public affairs and senior adviser to the secretary, Fox News has learned, marking the latest move in a sweeping leadership overhaul at the Pentagon.
Butler, a veteran officer with nearly three decades of service, has been serving as the Army’s top public affairs official and as a key adviser to Driscoll, who is currently in Geneva participating in negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Butler accompanied Driscoll to Ukraine in November 2025 as part of efforts to jump-start those talks.
The order to remove Butler came Thursday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Butler previously served as head of public affairs for the Joint Chiefs of Staff when Gen. Mark Milley was chairman. He had been selected for promotion to brigadier general, with his name appearing for two consecutive years on a list of 34 officers chosen for advancement.
However, that promotion list has reportedly been held up by Hegseth for nearly four months. Sources indicate the defense secretary has concerns about four to five officers selected by the Army board but is legally unable to remove them from the list. According to an Army official, Butler volunteered to take his name off the promotion list if doing so would allow the other promotions to proceed.
Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President JD Vance, has reportedly resisted pressure from Hegseth for months to dismiss Butler, citing the colonel’s role in the Army’s ongoing transformation efforts. Driscoll and Vance attended Yale Law School together.
In a statement, Driscoll praised Butler’s service. “We greatly appreciate COL Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation,” he said. “Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service.”
Hegseth took office at the Pentagon in 2025 and has since moved quickly to reshape the military’s top ranks. Shortly after his arrival, several high-profile officers were fired or forced into early retirement without public explanations. Those included Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was serving as Chief of Naval Operations; Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Mingus, vice chief of the Army; Gen. Douglas A. Sims, director of the Joint Staff; Air Force Chief Gen. David Allvin; Gen. James Slife, vice chief of the Air Force; and Gen. Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, among others.
The series of unexplained dismissals has reportedly created unease among some senior military leaders, with concerns about uncertainty and reluctance to speak openly.
Butler is widely regarded as one of the Army’s most experienced communicators. From 2010 to 2014, he was attached to the Army’s Delta Force, serving alongside top-tier special operations units on missions overseas. He later served as public affairs officer for Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 2015 to 2018.
He also worked closely with Gen. Scott Miller, first at Joint Special Operations Command and later in Afghanistan when Miller deployed there from 2018 to 2019. During that time, Butler served as chief spokesman and director of communications for all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
A former four-star commander described Butler as “the consummate professional, the most competent Public Affairs officer I have ever worked with and a gifted practitioner of strategic communications.”
During the Army’s 250th birthday celebrations in 2025, President Donald Trump publicly recognized Butler for assisting the Army chief in organizing the Washington, D.C., parade.
Butler’s removal comes as the Pentagon continues to undergo significant leadership changes under Hegseth’s tenure.
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