Who is Dan Driscoll, suddenly at the center of Ukraine peace talks?

Little known in Washington mere months ago, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is now front and center in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. But who is he?

A North Carolina native, Driscoll served in the Iraq war in 2009 before leaving the Army at the rank of first lieutenant. He leapt to the forefront of American politics upon his ascension to Army Secretary in February of this year. This was no doubt fostered through his association with Vice President J.D. Vance, a close friend at Yale law school.

Like Vance, Driscoll pursued venture capital after law school, for two years serving as the COO of FlexCapital, whose investments fuel startups in the financial tech and enterprise, and consumer software industries. Driscoll brought this work experience to his current job with the recently announced FUZE program, where the Army intends to put hundreds of millions each year toward relatively high risk investment strategies in hopes of bolstering innovation and speeding up the defense procurement process.

Driscoll has not been a stranger to politics, either, running an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2020, failing to make headway in a crowded Republican primary in North Carolina’s eleventh district.

Years later, the former venture capitalist finds himself on the national stage. Amassing critical diplomatic duties toward ending the war in Ukraine, Driscoll is a primary negotiator in ongoing talks in Abu Dhabi. He has quickly accrued other responsibilities: Trump appointed him to be the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in April.

This has generated the usual Washington gossip, with chatter that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is being sidelined by his underling, and that Driscoll might even replace him.

A source told Politico late last week: “There’s not a lot of trust in Hegseth to deliver [diplomatic] messages to key leaders…There is more trust in Dan to do that right now.” The online political magazine Puck asserted Driscoll was “gunning” for Hegseth’s job earlier this month. Another source told the NY Post, in contrast, that Driscoll “has no interest in butting heads with Pete.”

Other observers say it is not surprising that Hegseth is not involved in current Ukraine war talks.

“From a protocol point of view, that's not something that you would expect the Secretary of Defense to do,” George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute and former director of the CIA's Russia analysis, told RS. “This is, however, an expression of the president's confidence in Dan Driscoll, and it's quite likely that his star will continue to rise if these negotiations are successful.”

Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday, mentioning Driscoll’s role in upcoming Ukraine war talks, but also that Hegseth and other high level officials would be briefed soon on their progress. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also dismissed reporting suggesting a cabinet shakeup is in the works.

Hegseth will meet with leaders of the Dominican Republic Wednesday, to strengthen defense relationships there.