Trump names Adam Telle acting Army secretary following Driscoll’s departure

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Adam Telle will be the acting secretary of the Army following the departure of Dan Driscoll amid tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Telle has been serving as the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works.

“He is a great patriot, who is respected by all,” Trump wrote Thursday night on Truth Social.

Driscoll stepped down Wednesday after 18 months in the position but offered no explanation for his decision.

During a White House meeting last week, Driscoll brought his concerns about the future of the Army under Hegseth directly to Trump, according to a report in The Atlantic.

Any concerns were absent from Driscoll’s post on X late Tuesday, his first public statement since the White House confirmed his departure Monday.

Driscoll said it was “the honor of a lifetime” to serve as Army secretary under Trump and Hegseth.

Telle has been at the Army Office of Civil Works since August 2025, according to LegiStorm, a website that tracks lawmakers and Capitol Hill staffers. Before that, he spent 20 years mostly working in Congress for lawmakers, including as chief of staff for Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee from 2021 to 2025.

He worked in the White House for about 18 months during Trump’s first term as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, according to LegiStorm.

Adam Telle, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, speaks at the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir Project in Florida on April 13, 2026. (Brigida I. Sanchez/U.S. Army)

Telle will be overseeing the nation’s largest military branch at a time when the United States and Iran have been fighting for seven months.

Driscoll’s departure leaves the Army without a Senate-confirmed leader. Hegseth ousted Gen. Randy George as the Army’s chief of staff in April, and a successor has not been named.

Hegseth has not commented on Driscoll’s departure but echoed Trump’s support for Telle.

“Huge congrats to Adam. Strong and whip smart,” Hegseth wrote on X. “He is indeed a great patriot – and will be an immediate asset to the U.S. Army.”

Typically, the undersecretary of a service fills in as the acting secretary. The current undersecretary is Mike Obadal, a retired Army colonel and special operations aviator.

In April, when Navy Secretary John Phelan left the position, the Pentagon announced that Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao would become acting Navy secretary. Trump on Tuesday nominated Cao to permanently lead the service.

Hegseth has told people close to him that Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell would be his top choice to lead the Army, CBS News reported.

Parnell, an Afghanistan veteran, ran for Congress twice. He ran for the U.S. House in 2020 and lost to Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa. Parnell announced the following year that he would run for Senate but suspended his campaign amid allegations by his estranged wife that he abused her and their children. Parnell denies the allegations.