Trump appoints Adam Telle as acting army secretary amid tensions with Hegseth

Donald Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle as the acting army secretary after the departure of Daniel Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the army for civil works.

“He is a Great Patriot, who is respected by all,” the US president wrote in a Truth Social post.

Driscoll gave no explanation for his decision to quit this week as the army’s top civilian official. His clashes with Hegseth have been widely reported, and some of Driscoll’s allies in the army were ousted this year by Trump’s Pentagon chief.

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, Telle spent 20 years mostly working in Congress for lawmakers, including as chief of staff for Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee from 2021 to 2025.

Telle had a job for 18 months working in the White House during Trump’s first term as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, Legistorm said. He also spent more than 10 years working for the late Republican Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi.

Telle will be overseeing the country’s largest fighting force at a time when the US is still engaged in conflict with Iran and significant army forces are stationed in the Middle East.

The war has significantly contributed to the US military’s shortfall in critical weapons like the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile interceptor systems, which are operated by the army.

Driscoll, an army veteran who served in Iraq, did not offer an explanation for why he stepped down after 18 months as the service’s civilian leader.

He is a friend of vice-president JD Vance and had good relationships with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. His allies in the army who were ousted by Hegseth included its top uniformed leader, Gen Randy George.

Gen Christopher LaNeve took over as the army’s acting chief of staff and recently pulled the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had championed.

Driscoll spoke with Trump on the current state of the army before he submitted his resignation, the Associated Press has reported.

Driscoll did not allude to any problems in the only public statement on his departure, saying Tuesday that it has been “the honor of a lifetime” to serve as army secretary under Trump and Hegseth.

“We could not have made the progress we did without the support of secretary Hegseth,” he added.

Democrats and Republicans lamented Driscoll’s departure, with some blaming Hegseth directly.

Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring and sometimes has clashed with Trump, said on social media that Hegseth “is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks”.