Trump taps Adam Telle as acting Army secretary

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced this evening that Adam Telle will step in as the acting Army secretary, “effective immediately.”

Telle, currently serving as the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, will take the Army’s top civilian role following today’s departure of Secretary Dan Drisoll, who handed in his resignation Monday. He will jump the line on Michael Obidal, the undersecretary of the Army, a position which commonly becomes the acting secretary in such cases.

“He is a Great Patriot, who is respected by all,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. According to his Army bio , Telle previously served as the chief of staff to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), as Trump’s chief liaison to the Senate and other roles related to Congress. Telle is taking the role in a temporary capacity at a time of great change for the land service, which is going through a push for modernization but now lacks confirmed leaders for both the top civilian and uniformed roles.

Back in April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, with Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve standing in for the top uniformed post. However, the White House has not formally nominated LeNeve to take on the role, amidst reports of bipartisan concern about his credentials.

A department spokesperson recently told Breaking Defense that the Pentagon is working to “lock in” that nomination.

LaNeve “has the complete and total trust of [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth. As we have made clear, we are actively coordinating with our Senate partners to lock in the optimal moment to formally submit his nomination, and we intend to do so,” Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman — and someone reportedly on Hegseth’s shortlist to for the Army role — said last week.

华盛顿——唐纳德·特朗普总统今晚宣布，亚当·特勒将接任陆军代理部长一职，“立即生效”。

现任陆军民事工程助理部长（经参议院确认）的特勒，将在陆军部长丹·德里索尔周一递交辞呈后，接任陆军最高文职职位。他将直接接替陆军副部长迈克尔·奥比达尔，通常情况下，副部长会在这种情况下担任代理部长。

特朗普在Truth Social网站上发帖写道：“他是一位伟大的爱国者，深受大家尊敬。”根据他的陆军履历，特勒此前曾担任田纳西州共和党参议员比尔·哈格蒂的幕僚长，以及特朗普与参议院的主要联络人，并担任过其他与国会相关的职务。特勒目前以临时身份接任陆军职务，正值陆军经历重大变革之际。陆军正在推进现代化改革，但目前无论是高级文职人员还是军职人员，都缺乏正式的领导人选。

今年四月，国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯解除了参谋长兰迪·乔治将军的职务，由副参谋长克里斯托弗·拉内夫将军暂代这一最高军方职务。然而，由于有报道称两党人士对拉内夫的资历表示担忧，白宫尚未正式提名他担任这一职务。

国防部发言人近日告诉《防务新闻》，五角大楼正在努力“敲定”这项提名。

五角大楼首席发言人肖恩·帕内尔（据报道，拉内夫是赫格塞斯陆军部长候选人之一）上周表示：“拉内夫完全得到了国防部长赫格塞斯的信任。正如我们已经明确表示的那样，我们正在积极与参议院的伙伴们协调，以确定正式提交他提名的最佳时机，我们打算这样做。”