(The Center Square) – Boone native Dan Driscoll has been sworn in as the 26th secretary of the Army.
The 38-year-old North Carolinian, a veteran of deployment to Iraq in 2009, was the pick of President Donald Trump and succeeds Christine Wormuth. Vice President J.D. Vance, a school mate at Yale, administered the oath of office on Tuesday.
Senate confirmation earlier in the day was 66-28.
“Dan brings a powerful combination of experiences to serve as a disruptor and change agent,” Trump said in a release.
Driscoll leads the nation’s largest military branch, carrying responsibility for nearly 1 million active, Guard and Reserve Soldiers and more than 265,000 Army civilians.
“Dan will bring relevant combat experience, a decorated military career, and a proven track record at the highest levels of law and business,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said on a social media post after Tuesday’s vote. “He will keep the Army focused on its mission and help achieve peace through strength.”
Driscoll earned his undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in three years. He completed Army Ranger School, deployed with the 10th Mountain Division out Fort Drum in New York to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and earned his law degree from Yale on the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
It was on the New Haven, Conn., Ivy League campus where he met Vance. He’s since served as senior advisor to Vance.
In business, Driscoll worked in venture capital and private equity.
Driscoll is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, Rotary, VFW Post 1134, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
“Dan will be a fearless and relentless fighter for America’s soldiers and the America First agenda,” Trump said.
Driscoll is familiar to the mountain counties and politics. He was sixth of 12 in the 2020 Republican primary seeking the 11th Congressional District seat. Madison Cawthorn, second to Lynda Bennett in that primary, won the runoff and the general election.
