Dan Driscoll, a former investment banker and US army secretary who has known JD Vance since their Yale Law School days, has been thrust into an unlikely diplomatic role as the Trump administration's point man between Kyiv and Moscow. His only previous claim to attention in White House circles was an interest in cutting-edge drone technology, which earned him the label of the “drone guy.”
Last week, Driscoll delivered a 28-point White House peace plan to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a plan that Ukrainians and European allies have denounced as a capitulation to Russian aggression. He is expected to travel to Russia this week to discuss the proposal with the Kremlin, and will also consult Nato allies in Europe, a delicate task amid widening transatlantic tensions.
The rise of Driscoll comes as the official Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is expected to step down in the coming weeks, and as his Pentagon superior, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been sidelined from such sensitive talks after a series of controversies. A person familiar with the administration's internal dynamics told Politico that there is “more trust in Dan” than in Hegseth to deliver messages to key leaders.
Since being sworn in as army secretary on February 25, the under-40 Driscoll has impressed White House insiders as one of the administration's most skilful performers. His duties have included overseeing a workforce of more than one million soldiers and civilian employees, involvement in controversial deployments of National Guard units to US cities, and, since April, an additional post as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Driscoll's own military background includes a nine-month deployment to Iraq in 2009 and several army commendations. The son of a Vietnam veteran, he worked as a Senate intern on veterans' affairs before moving to an investment bank in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he rose to chief operating officer. While none of this obviously prepared him for high-stakes diplomacy, he has made complimentary references to Ukraine, particularly on drone technology, which was the original purpose of his already-scheduled trip to Kyiv before Trump expanded his remit.
