Who are Trump’s “drone people” playing a central role in Ukraine peace talks?

Talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war took an unexpected turn last week when the United States allegedly leaked a peace plan and the Trump administration sent an unlikely figure to a series of overseas meetings.

The youngest-ever Army secretary, 39-year-old Dan Driscoll, is often referred to as President Donald Trump’s “drone man” for his embrace of emerging battlefield technologies. Until recently, he was known for discussing budget, material and personnel issues in the military’s largest branch.

Driscoll does not appear to have a long history of dealing with Russia and Ukraine, has no experience in international diplomacy, and has never held public office.

So who are the increasingly prominent figures in this government?

Driscoll’s relationship with current Vice President J.D. Vance brought him into Trump’s orbit.

Like his friend Vance, Driscoll attended a public college before joining the U.S. Army and then earned a law degree from the prestigious Yale University. Both of them also worked in finance after graduation.

During his military career, Driscoll became an officer in 2007, led a cavalry platoon and deployed to Iraq for several months in 2009.

He told the story of meeting Vance through the law school’s student veterans group, during which Vance assured new students that they would feel like they didn’t belong here at first but would excel in the classroom within a few months. Vance soon became Driscoll’s friend and mentor.

In the summer of 2024, Driscoll was vacationing with his family in Switzerland when Vance called to tell him he would be Trump’s running mate and invited him to join the campaign.

The next day, Driscoll flew back to the United States, bought a suit at a discount mall and took an Uber to the Republican National Convention, he told the alumni magazine of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was an undergraduate.

Driscoll was quickly confirmed to serve as Army secretary in a Senate confirmation vote after Trump returned to office. His reach has expanded after becoming Trump’s point man in deploying the National Guard to U.S. cities. Later, he also took over as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Driscoll has often spoken about the war in Ukraine, noting that Ukrainian drones are a relatively cheap, mass-produced technology that would benefit the fight.

But after being nominated to serve as secretary of war, he initially did not appear to be involved in negotiations to end the war. Instead, Trump relied on his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to craft a ceasefire plan.

As the United States and Russia draft the details of the 28-point plan leaked last weekUkraine immediately expressed concerns about some of its key issues – and its European allies followed suit.

Driscoll then joined other senior Pentagon officials on an unannounced trip to Ukraine, the highest-level military group to visit Kyiv since Trump took office in January. The purpose was to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war, according to a U.S. Army spokesman.

Politico reported that Driscoll met with Zelensky and was later hosted at a reception at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

In the days that followed, Driscoll joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkov and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner in Geneva for more discussions with Ukrainian officials and helped draft a “Renewed and improved peace framework”.

He later held talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, BBC America partner CBS News reported.

Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that he had directed special envoy Steve Witkov to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in an effort to finalize the peace plan. He said Driscoll would meet with Ukrainians.

In nominating Driscoll for Army secretary, Trump wrote that he had “a powerful combination of experience as a disruptor and change agent.”

Some in Washington are wondering whether these qualities and his recent performance on the world stage mean Driscoll could one day replace Pete Hegseth if Hegseth steps down as defense secretary.

While Driscoll has never held public office, he has served in Congress as an intern for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and ran unsuccessfully for a North Carolina House seat in 2020. A former professor suggested that Driscoll’s goals were to “join the military, go to law school and go into politics.”

Driscoll is also likely to formally step into talks with Ukraine when Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg leaves in January.

Or he could remain in charge of hundreds of thousands of U.S. Army troops. Driscoll has previously emphasized that his father and grandfather served in the Army before him, and he has often spoken of his vision to transform the Army.

Days before traveling to Ukraine, Driscoll described to The Conversation podcast how he imagined a near future in which “every infantryman…will carry a drone into combat” and soldiers will rely on artificial intelligence because the human brain will not be able to “keep up” with the action.

“Our window for change is now,” he said in a speech in October. “We will win with chips and software, not the blood and bodies of our soldiers.”