OpenAI creates senior national-security role for former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll

OpenAI has appointed Dan Driscoll, a former U.S. Army secretary, to a newly established senior counselor position centered on national-security modernization.² The company says he will counsel its leadership on applying artificial intelligence to national security and cybersecurity, making those areas the stated focus of the role.² OpenAI has also described the objective as using AI to improve U.S. national security and cybersecurity.² The announcement therefore describes an advisory job, while also assigning Driscoll work with the company’s senior leaders and people outside the organization.²

A central part of the external work is helping U.S. allies take up advanced AI in a responsible way, according to OpenAI.² The company says Driscoll will engage government officials, industry leaders, academic institutions and allied organizations in its democratic-AI efforts.² A separate account of OpenAI’s announcement says the company intends to work with government, business and academic participants on practical initiatives under that label.¹ Together, these descriptions identify both allied organizations and other groups as participants, without specifying particular projects or outcomes.¹²

The role also has an internal dimension: Driscoll is expected to help OpenAI teams understand the operational demands faced by national-security institutions.² Another account says those institutions include agencies around the world and emphasizes their practical operating requirements.¹ That work is distinct from advising executives about AI applications, although both responsibilities sit within the national-security remit described by the company.¹² The announcement does not set out a measure of success, a timetable for the work or a list of agencies involved.¹²

OpenAI connects the appointment with its existing work on cyber resilience and the protection of essential services through its Daybreak program.² That reference places cybersecurity alongside the broader national-security purpose in the company’s description of Driscoll’s responsibilities.² The available account identifies Daybreak as a program, but does not describe its activities or provide results for it.² It therefore supplies context for OpenAI’s stated cyber work rather than a separate measure of what Driscoll’s appointment has already achieved.²

Driscoll’s previous public work was in the U.S. military, and he is described as an Iraq war veteran who worked on military modernization.² His modernization efforts included widening U.S. allies’ access to drone and counter-drone technologies.² Those details show that his earlier work included allied access to military technology, while OpenAI’s announcement concerns the use of AI and cooperation with allies.² The facts describe both areas of work but do not specify that the new position continues a particular military project.²

Driscoll left the Army secretary position earlier in the year, after months of reported tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.² The account gives that departure as background to his new appointment, but does not describe the circumstances further.² His public profile also rose when President Donald Trump assigned him to participate in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.¹ That assignment was described as an unusual diplomatic responsibility for someone serving as Army secretary.¹

In November 2025, Driscoll met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv to discuss a peace plan proposed by the United States and intended to end the war with Russia.² The meeting provides another example of his work involving national-security issues and international counterparts.² The reported purpose was discussion of the proposed plan; the account does not say that the meeting produced an agreement.² This diplomatic episode is separate from the responsibilities OpenAI has announced, which concern advice, institutional needs and cooperation around AI.²

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the United States has a significant opportunity to work with other countries to spread democratic AI.² Altman also said Driscoll’s appointment would support stronger American leadership in the technology.² These comments present the hire as part of an international and national leadership effort, while the company’s operational description specifies advising, external engagement and internal preparation.² OpenAI’s stated emphasis on responsible adoption by allies is consistent with that outward-facing account, though the announcement does not set out how adoption or leadership will be assessed.²

Driscoll said national-security requirements are changing more rapidly than at any point in the past fifty years.² He said AI could help national-security workers by reducing paperwork, handling information and returning answers more quickly.² Those remarks explain the kind of operational value he associates with AI, but they describe potential benefits rather than documented results from OpenAI’s work.² Driscoll said he joined the company to help the United States and its allies use the technology responsibly for the benefit of people protecting them.¹ That stated purpose brings together his emphasis on changing security needs, faster information work and responsible use by the United States and its allies.¹²