Former Army secretary Dan Driscoll heads to OpenAI

WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll has joined OpenAI as a senior counselor for national security modernization — a newly established role — according to a release from the company and Driscoll’s LinkedIn page. 

“National security requirements are changing faster than at any time in the past fifty years. This technology will help them keep pace by cutting through paperwork, making sense of more information, and getting the right answer to the right person faster,” Driscoll said in the company’s announcement Monday evening. 

“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,” he continued.  

In this role, the former 26th secretary of the Army will advise senior leadership and “external partners” on how AI can bolster national security and cybersecurity, with a specific focus on working with US allies to advance the “responsible use” of AI, per the company’s announcement. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he’s “excited to welcome Dan Driscoll to OpenAI to strengthen American leadership” and help the company work with other countries to “spread the adoption of democratic AI.”

Driscoll joins the company after the Pentagon’s high-profile fight with AI company Anthropic, in which the military wanted unrestricted access to Anthropic’s Claude model but the company ultimately refused. After months of back and forth, the altercation resulted in the Pentagon shifting its classified network integrations toward other AI providers including OpenAI. 

Driscoll resigned from his secretary position in the Army in late August following months of a reported strained relationship with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. During his tenure as secretary, Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran who has a background in venture capital, prioritized military modernization with efforts such as Operation Jailbreak, the sprawling Army Transformation Initiative, the low-cost interceptor program and more. 

According to his LinkedIn page, in between his stint as secretary and his new role at OpenAI, Driscoll served as an advisor at counter-drone company Perennial Autonomy and public affairs firm Watchtower Strategy.