Acting Secretary of the Army

Adam R. Telle is the Acting Secretary of the Army, designated by President Donald J. Trump on September 3, 2026.

As Acting Secretary of the Army, he oversees operations, modernization, and resource allocation for nearly one million Active, Guard, and Reserve Soldiers and more than 265,000 Army Civilians.

Acting Secretary Telle most recently served as the 14th Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, where he held principal authority for policy direction and supervision of the U.S. Army’s Civil Works program, enabling energy dominance, disaster response, food security, and American prosperity. In this role, he spearheaded "Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork" (BINP), a historic overhaul to cut red tape and rapidly deliver critical infrastructure.

Leading the most significant reshaping of Army Civil Works decades, Telle brought more than twenty years of experience at the White House and in the United States Senate, previously serving as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. Prior to that, in the first Trump Administration, Secretary Telle served as President Trump’s chief liaison to the Senate when he led the White House Office of Legislative Affairs’ Senate team. In this role, Secretary Telle was also a key player in the White House’s national security apparatus, shepherding nominees through the Senate, negotiating National Defense Authorization Acts, and helping deliver historic achievements including the Abraham Accords and the authorization of the U.S. Space Force, the first Armed Service established since the 1940s.

Acting Secretary Telle was also the chief staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee charged with managing the budget of the Department of Homeland Security, developing laws that provided unprecedented resources border security and interior enforcement in response to President Trump’s leadership. Before that, Secretary Telle spent 10 years in the office of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman and Defense Subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran, where he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, and the top national security staffer.

He is a patriotic native of Northport, Alabama and holds degrees in computer science and communication from Mississippi State University, where he was elected student body president. He is married, with two children, and spends his free time enjoying the Gulf of America.