Former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll Joins OpenAI in New National Security Role
Photo: SemaforFormer Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is joining OpenAI as senior counselor for national security modernization, a newly created role, the company announced Monday. OpenAI said Driscoll will work with senior leaders and with governments, industry, academia and allied institutions on how advanced AI can strengthen national and cybersecurity, focusing on working with U.S. allies on responsible use. He will also help OpenAI teams understand the operational needs of national security institutions. CEO Sam Altman said the U.S. has an opportunity to work with other countries to spread adoption of democratic AI. Driscoll said national security requirements are changing faster than at any time in the past fifty years. He became Army secretary last year under the Trump administration and left in September 2026, and he was also acting ATF director during parts of 2025 and 2026. In June 2025, while he led the Army, the service swore in OpenAI employees and other tech executives as reserve officers.
Right-leaning outlets treat it as a personnel announcement. Fox Business, under a headline about a job at a tech company, quotes OpenAI's release at length, lists his Army and ATF posts, and opens with an unrelated segment in which David Bahnsen calls OpenAI's $1.25 trillion valuation "insanely high." The Daily Caller leads with the earlier reserve-officer swearing-in and quotes Altman and Driscoll. Semafor, the alternative outlet, offers a distinct angle: it presents the hire as running against a trend of companies adding Democrats before Tuesday's midterms. It notes that Driscoll resigned two months earlier after clashing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and says Trump's national security apparatus will keep influencing which AI models are approved. Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while right-leaning and alternative outlets had.
How the sides differ Right sources stress Driscoll's role and OpenAI's announcement; alternative sources frame it as a political bet before the midterms. Left outlets had not covered it.
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Not covering this story. None of the left-leaning outlets Crosswire tracks has reported it yet. What one side leaves out can be as telling as what the others report.
Semafor treats the hire as a political calculation before the midterms, noting Driscoll's clash with Hegseth and the administration's influence over AI model approvals, without quoting company statements.
Fox Business and the Daily Caller lead with the announcement, quoting OpenAI, Altman and Driscoll; Fox adds his Army and ATF roles and an OpenAI valuation segment, while the Caller stresses the Army's reserve ties to tech executives.