Trump names Adam Telle acting Army secretary after Driscoll exit

Jen Judson and Derek Wallbank, Bloomberg News on Sep 3, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump named Adam Telle as acting secretary of the U.S. Army, elevating the current assistant secretary overseeing civil works following the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

Telle will assume his new post “effective immediately,” the president announced in a post on his Truth Social platform Thursday evening.

His elevation comes at a particularly fraught moment at the Pentagon. Driscoll stepped down after repeated clashes with his boss, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, leaving the Army without several Senate-confirmed leaders amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.

The secretary for civil works supervises the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Telle, a native of Mississippi, spent much of his career on Capitol Hill and was chief of staff to Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican, who introduced him during his confirmation hearing last year.

Congratulating Telle on Facebook after Trump’s announcement, the senator predicted that he would “be a catalyst for positive change as acting Secretary of the Army supporting a major transformation of our military competence under the leadership” of Hegseth.

“The president made an excellent choice,” said Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, adding that Telle had been a “fantastic partner” in his previous role.

Driscoll’s departure was only the latest in a series of resignations and firings within the service and the military. Months ago, Hegseth dismissed the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, who was close to Driscoll. Gen. Christopher LaNeve is currently serving as acting chief of staff while simultaneously serving as vice chief.

At the same time, the war with Iran that began at the end of February has left the Army short of munitions, alarming lawmakers and defense experts worried about potential confrontations with China.

The turnover in the top Pentagon ranks has generated criticism from Republicans in Congress. “I’m tired of all the churn,” Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters at the Capitol earlier this week. “I want to see some stability.”

(Roxana Tiron, Courtney McBride and John Harney contributed to this report.)