OpenAI appoints Dan Driscoll as Senior Counselor for National Security Modernization

Dan Driscoll, who served as the 26th Secretary of the Army, is joining OpenAI in a newly created role as Senior Counselor for National Security Modernization. He'll advise senior leadership and outside partners on using advanced AI for national and cyber security, with an emphasis on U.S. allies.

This isn't a symbolic hire. As Army secretary, Driscoll oversaw nearly one million Active, Guard and Reserve soldiers and more than 265,000 Army civilians, and pushed faster fielding of new technology and acquisition reform. Bringing that background in-house tells us OpenAI wants to be a serious supplier to governments' security establishments.

We see the logic. Militaries and security agencies are going to use AI, and the uses Driscoll describes, cutting paperwork, making sense of more information, getting answers to the right people faster, are practical. If a U.S. company is going to supply that work, it's better done with people who understand how these institutions operate and procure.

The framing deserves scrutiny. OpenAI wraps the hire in the language of democratic AI and responsible use, and Sam Altman's statement talks about people having a say in how AI is developed. Those are good principles. But the release offers no specifics on what OpenAI won't build for defense customers, how it decides which allies qualify, or who reviews deployments. A newly created senior role focused on modernization is a business-development role as much as an ethics one.

The revolving door matters too. Hiring a recent service secretary, who by his own account also served as acting director of the ATF, gives OpenAI deep access and credibility in government. It also raises fair questions about influence and procurement that every defense contractor faces, and OpenAI should expect the same standard.

Where this leads if it scales is a frontier lab that's thoroughly embedded in national security. That may well be inevitable. What we'll be looking for is whether OpenAI publishes clear limits and accountability alongside the growth, or whether 'responsible' stays a word in the press release.

OpenAI says the appointment builds on its Daybreak program, which works with allies and partners on cyber resilience and protecting essential services. The role includes helping internal teams understand the operational needs of national security institutions worldwide.