Army Secretary Dan Driscoll Earns First
Wash100 Award For Innovation in Contracting
Executive Mosaic is excited to announce Dan Driscoll, the 26th Army secretary, as a first-time Wash100 Award winner for his work improving and streamlining how the service acquires critical emerging technologies and equipment, and ensuring that soldiers always have overwhelming superiority in combat.
Driscoll announced when he first took over as Army secretary that he would prioritize reinvigorating the defense industrial base and bolstering the service’s procurement processes. This is to prepare for near-peer combat against nations such as China.
“Together, we will forge stronger partnerships with the defense industry to ensure you have the firepower to dominate our enemies,” Driscoll said shortly after being sworn-in. “No contract, company or bureaucratic obstacle will stand in the way of this goal.”
The polls are open for the 2026 Wash100 Award popular vote competition! Vote for Dan Driscoll and other leading GovCon executives and officers at Wash100.com.
Why Is Dan Driscoll Winning a 2026 Wash100 Award?
Driscoll became the Army’s top civilian in February 2025. He spent four years in the service having fought as a cavalry scout in Iraq before rising up the ranks in finance. He worked at BlackArch Partners, 100watt and Flex Capital, where he was chief operating officer for two years from 2021 to 2023.
One of Driscoll’s boldest initiatives has been overhauling the Army’s weapons portfolio organization to make the service’s acquisition infrastructure less risk-adverse while accelerating innovative technologies into soldiers’ hands. A big part of this was consolidating the number of top general officers and reducing the amount of program executive offices in charge of acquisition.
He also created a brand-new reporting apparatus called Portfolio Acquisition Executives. The idea was to slash layers of bureaucracy, reduce paperwork and increase speed of the acquisition process by 30 to 50 percent.
“Earning a first-time Wash100 honor in 2026 marks a major achievement for Secretary Driscoll and underscores the early impact he has made as Army secretary,” said Jim Garrettson, Executive Mosaic CEO and founder of the Wash100 Award. “Since taking on the role, Secretary Driscoll has emphasized readiness and modernization, and putting soldiers at an even greater advantage in combat, while reinforcing strong partnerships between the Army and industry.”
“His approach balances strategic vision with a clear sense of mission and responsibility. This inaugural Wash100 recognition offers a warm welcome to GovCon’s most respected circle and signals the meaningful influence Secretary Driscoll is poised to have across national defense and federal contracting,” Garrettson added.
Driscoll is especially talented at shaking up existing bureaucracy to prepare organizations for the future. He played a leading role in the Army Transformation Initiative, an innovative effort to reexamine and eliminate unnecessary requirements, optimize force structure and eliminate obsolete programs.
Driscoll, as part of the ATI, canceled legacy programs in favor of modern weapon systems. He anticipated at the time that the ATI would save the service roughly $48 billion in cancelled or reduced programs.
He developed an impressive effort to dramatically increase the number of unmanned aircraft systems the Army procures. Driscoll wants to buy as many as one million UAS over the next few years and later procure anywhere from 250,000 to several million systems annually. This would be a dramatic increase from the 50,000 UAS the service procures each year.
Who Is Dan Driscoll?
Driscoll is responsible for equipping, staffing and training the largest branch in the U.S. armed services and its almost 480,000 active duty personnel. This includes Reserve and Guard soldiers and related civilians.
Secretary Driscoll comes from a long line of soldiers in his family. His grandfather served as a decoder in World War II while his father was an infantryman in Vietnam, according to the Army.
What Are Dan Driscoll’s Recent Career Achievements?
Driscoll earned a number of awards for his military service. He finished Army Ranger school and earned a Ranger tab as well as the Army Commendation Medal. He meritoriously earned the combat action badge and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with campaign star, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Associated Press previously reported.
At 38, Driscoll is the youngest Army secretary ever, according to the Financial Times. He finally got a long-awaited service initiative into the books when he included a right-to-repair provision in the ATI. This gave soldiers more authority to perform repair work in the field, especially low-risk fixes. More risky repairs required review by top ranking officers.
Driscoll has become one of Trump’s most trusted officials in complex foreign negotiations. He has been deeply involved with deliberations seeking peace in Ukraine. His close relationship with the White House helped Driscoll earn other administration positions as he’s also the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
What Does Dan Driscoll’s Success Mean for GovCon?
Driscoll will certainly continue pushing for faster Army business and more innovative contracting vehicles during his second full year as service secretary. His broadened foreign policy responsibilities could also continue, Politico reported in November.
Congratulations to Dan Driscoll on his 2026 Wash100 Award!
Click here to cast your vote for Driscoll in the 2026 Wash100 popular vote competition.