Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told people close to him that Sean Parnell would be his top choice for secretary of the Army, several senior officials told CBS News.
Page A3From§Eachthe late evening edition — 3 September 2026
Trump crowns civil-works engineer 'great' Army secretary, passing over his own defense chief's pick
As it ran on the front
Look, the process worked exactly as designed. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll left the building this week, and by Thursday evening the President had already named the replacement — Adam Telle, currently Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, elevated to Acting Secretary by Truth Social post. "He is a Great Patriot, who is respected by all," the President wrote, and when the Commander-in-Chief calls a man great and respected by all, that settles the qualifications question before anyone gets around to asking it — I mean, that settles it, full stop, no further review necessary, this is how transitions are supposed to look, decisive, or, well —
Because Driscoll didn't exactly wander off. He submitted his resignation directly to President Trump, CBS News reported, after months of friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — a rift the Washington Examiner had already reported on August 31st, and by September 1st the Examiner was noting Driscoll had become the latest name on a list of senior military and civilian leaders who departed during Hegseth's tenure. That's not a smooth handoff. That's a vacancy left by a fight, filled by press release.…
…(cont) And here's where the seamless-transition story catches on itself: on the same Thursday the President was calling Telle a great patriot, CBS News reported that Hegseth had told people close to him his top choice for the job was Sean Parnell. Not Telle. Parnell. The Defense Secretary — Telle's new boss — had a preference, and it isn't the guy who got the title. So either nobody asked Hegseth, or somebody did and went with the civil engineer anyway, and I genuinely don't know which of those is supposed to be the reassuring version, because I've now argued both that the process was seamless and that the man running the Pentagon didn't get his own pick, and those can't both be true, can they — they can't —
Vice President Vance did take a question about Driscoll's departure at Thursday's briefing, from CBS's Weijia Jiang, the first briefing since Karoline Leavitt left the podium herself. Turnover answering questions about turnover. The Army now has an acting secretary whose résumé is Civil Works, installed after the man his own boss wanted for the job didn't get it, in a department that has been shedding leadership since at least August 31st. Respected by all, apparently — except the one guy whose respect was supposed to matter first.
“They tell you the Army got a decisive new boss; what it got is an engineer nobody in the actual chain of command asked for, because the guy who runs the Pentagon already had his own pick sitting in the wings. That's not a promotion, that's a title handed out after the real fight already happened behind closed doors — and the fight was over who runs an institution that sends people's kids to war. The seat's filled. The fight's still open.”
“Look, transitions happen — an acting secretary keeps things running while personnel gets sorted, that's standard Pentagon business, and the President called him a great patriot respected by all, so the vetting's clearly been handled, respected by all, that's — wait, all of them? Even the Defense Secretary who wanted a different guy for the job? No, no, that's not — that's not what I meant to say.”
The receipts
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation directly to President Trump after months of friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. CBS News' Olivia Rinaldi has more.
The move came days after the resignation of Daniel P. Driscoll, who had clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the purge of top generals in the Army.
Adam Telle steps in as acting Army secretary after Dan Driscoll's resignation amid reported clashes with Pete Hegseth over Army readiness efforts.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation this week after disagreements with War Secretary Pete Hegseth seeped into the public eye. Driscoll, who is a college friend of Vice President JD Vance, is expected to leave the Pentagon…
President Trump announced Thursday evening that Adam Telle, the current assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, will be the acting Army secretary following this week’s resignation of Dan Driscoll. “He is a Great Patriot, who is respected by all,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Telle's appointment.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is set to depart his role at the Pentagon in the coming days, leaving the Trump administration after being embroiled in a months-long turf war with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to two sources…
President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle to serve as acting Army secretary following Dan Driscoll’s resignation from the role earlier this week. “I am pleased to announce that Adam Telle, the current Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, will become Acting…
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll‘s resignation makes him the latest in a long line of senior military and civilian leaders who have been pushed out of their jobs during Secretary of War Pete Hegseth‘s tenure. Driscoll submitted his resignation on Monday, an Army official confirmed to the Washington Examiner. It comes as the military is still…
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday held the first briefing at the White House since Karoline Leavitt left as press secretary, where CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang asked him about the departure of the now-former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Jiang joins "The Takeout" with more.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.