Sen. Thom Tillis, who once voted to confirm Pete Hegseth, has publicly urged President Trump to remove Hegseth, citing what he calls mismanagement, mass turnover at the Pentagon, and the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll after 18 months on the job.

What began as a personnel disagreement has spilled into full view of Capitol Hill and the country, with a Republican senator using his oversight role to demand action from a Republican president. Tillis framed his case around the steady loss of senior leaders and a leadership void at the top of the armed forces.

Tillis praised Dan Driscoll and Gen. Randy George for pushing reforms, then criticized Hegseth directly for undercutting that work. In his post he wrote the following about the conduct he has observed on Pentagon leadership:

“I served on Senate Armed Services for 8 years and as chair or ranking member of the Personnel and Readiness subcommittee. I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country.”

He did not stop at general rebuke. Tillis argued that Hegseth has been driven by insecurity, not strategy, insisting that the defense secretary “is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force.”

The senator went on to say a proper leader would fight to keep people like Driscoll and those flag officers who have been pushed out. He warned that current actions “is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks,” which to him is more than a personnel problem — it is a risk to readiness.

This is not the first public clash. In May, Tillis blasted Hegseth’s handling of U.S. posture in Europe and described those decisions as “amateur hour at best and deadly at worst.” He also told Hegseth to “choose meritocracy over your mediocre yes-men,” signaling a longer pattern of concern about judgment and personnel choices.

Driscoll submitted his resignation to the president on Monday after 18 months as the Army’s top civilian official. The White House offered public praise for Driscoll’s leadership, and some Republicans on the Armed Services Committee said they were disappointed to see him go.

Driscoll posted on X that Wednesday would be his final day and included a nod to the defense secretary in his exit message:

“We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth.”

That public courtesy sits awkwardly next to reports that Driscoll raised concerns in his resignation about Army transformation and readiness. According to sources speaking to CNN and Fox, Driscoll had been blocked or undermined in efforts to modernize the force, and those accounts make his praise read like a diplomatic farewell more than a full-throated endorsement.

Tillis has argued that Driscoll and Gen. George were spearheading the kind of modernization shaped by recent wars in Ukraine and the Middle East — work on drones, precision fires, and dispersed force posture. The senator contends that removing those leaders has hollowed out the institutional momentum needed for reform.

News outlets have tallied an alarming rate of departures during Hegseth’s tenure; CBS News counts at least 20 senior exits across uniformed commanders and civilian leaders. That level of churn drains institutional memory and complicates continuity in a department where steady command matters.

Hegseth has also taken steps to block certain officers from promotion because of perceived ties to ousted leaders, actions that extend turbulence into the next generation of senior officers. From Tillis’s perspective, this looks less like disciplined reform and more like a purge that risks readiness and morale.

Other voices have chimed in. The Washington Examiner reported a similar tally of roughly 20 generals, admirals, and civilian leaders departing, and Sen. Jack Reed said it was “far past time for President Trump to recognize the lasting harm that Pete Hegseth is inflicting on the Department of Defense.” Reed’s criticism is expected from the Democratic side, but Tillis’s rebuke carries unusual weight coming from someone who voted to confirm Hegseth.

The White House has publicly stood behind Hegseth for now, framing Driscoll’s exit as a routine transition and offering praise without addressing specific allegations. Tillis, meanwhile, made a direct appeal to the president and pressed the case for new leadership at the Pentagon.

“to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

As a retiring senator, Tillis has less to lose politically by speaking out, but that also limits his ability to force a change. Democrats have floated impeachment of the defense secretary as a midterm agenda item, a possibility that could politicize any attempt to remove Hegseth and make Republicans cautious about handing the opposition a victory.

Several questions remain unanswered: Hegseth has not publicly answered Tillis’s call for removal, the White House has not disputed claims that Army transformation was blocked, and the full contents of Driscoll’s resignation letter have not been released. Some sourced accounts rely on unnamed officials, which leaves gaps in the public record.

What is clear to critics is the arithmetic of the last year: at least 20 senior leaders gone, an Army secretary out after 18 months, the Army chief of staff removed in April, and now a Republican senator with direct personnel oversight saying the defense secretary is unfit. When the people who were building the new thing are the same ones being pushed out, the word for that is not reform. It is disorder.

A strong military does not run on loyalty tests; it runs on competence, continuity, and trust. If a defense secretary cannot keep his Army secretary in place for more than 18 months, the problem is larger than the people leaving the building.