SCOOP: Hegseth orders removal of Army public affairs chief amid broader Pentagon purge

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current job serving as chief of Army public affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll, who currently is in Geneva serving on the negotiating team to end the Ukraine war, Fox News has learned. 

Butler served as the head of public affairs for the Joint Chiefs when Gen. Mark Milley was chairman, and was slated to receive his first star. His name appeared for two years in a row on an Army list of 34 officers selected for promotion. 

That list has been held up by Hegseth for nearly four months because he reportedly has concerns about four to five officers selected by the Army board, but by law he cannot remove them from the list. Butler volunteered to take his name off the promotion list if it would help unlock the other promotions, according to an Army official.

Hegseth pressured the Army to fire Col. Dave Butler, right, pictured here with CNN anchor Pamela Brown, Fox has learned.  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for General Catalyst Institute)

Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President JD Vance, attended Yale Law School with the vice president and has resisted Hegseth’s pressure to fire Butler for months because of his ongoing contributions to the transformation of the Army.

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“We greatly appreciate COL Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation,” Driscoll said in a statement. “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.” 

Butler traveled with Driscoll to Ukraine in November 2025 to help jump-start negotiations.

The demand by Hegseth came Thursday, Fox News has learned.

Fox News has learned that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his current job serving as chief of Army public affairs and chief advisor to Driscoll. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Hegseth entered the Pentagon in 2025 and immediately began firing top officers or forcing them into early retirement without giving a reason or for cause: Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was serving as Chief of Naval Operations, Gen. CQ Brown who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Mingus, who was serving as 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 unexplained firings have led to fear, uncertainty and an unwillingness to speak up among senior military leaders.

Driscoll, an Army veteran and close ally of Vice President JD Vance, attended Yale Law School with the vice president and has resisted Hegseth’s pressure to fire Butler for months because of his ongoing contributions to the transformation of the Army. (Cheriss May/Getty Images )

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One of the Army’s best communicators, Butler served alongside the nation’s tiered special operations units on countless missions overseas attached to the Army’s Delta Force from 2010 to 2014. 

He served as the public affairs officer to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 2015 to 2018. He worked as the public affairs officer for Gen. Scott Miller when he was Joint Special Operations Command commander from 2016 to 2018, and then, at Miller’s request, served in Afghanistan when Miller deployed there from 2018 to 2019.  

Butler served as the chief spokesman and director of communications for all U.S. and NATO forces during that time that Miller served as the top 4-star general in Afghanistan.

Driscoll is currently in Geneva serving on the negotiating team to end the Ukraine war.  (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

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A former 4-star commander who once commanded U.S. Special Operations said Butler was “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 recognized Butler by name for helping the Army chief to organize the parade in Washington, D.C.