President Trump announced Thursday that he is appointing Adam R. Telle, the official overseeing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as acting Army secretary following Daniel P. Driscoll's resignation earlier this week.

Driscoll resigned after repeated clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the purge of top generals in the Army. Under the regular chain of command, Michael Obadal, the under secretary of the Army and principal deputy to Driscoll, would have assumed the role. Instead, Trump elevated Telle, the assistant secretary for civil works, which oversees the Army's public engineering and construction projects.

The Army Corps of Engineers builds dams, sea walls, and flood-reduction structures, and earlier this summer erected temporary barriers to protect Juneau, Alaska from flooding. Last year, the Trump administration directed the Corps to fast-track approval of fossil fuel projects like pipelines, mines, and power plants. Before his Army post, Telle served as chief of staff to Senator Bill Hagerty and as president Trump's chief liaison to the Senate as head of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs' Senate team.