Driscoll, as a friend of US Vice President J.D. Vance, presented Kyiv with a 28-point peace plan developed by Washington and Moscow, and continues to participate in agreeing on the document along with US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Describing his influence on the processes, the newspaper's source said that Driscoll compensates for his lack of experience with political savvy.
The FT claims that “one of Washington's worst-kept secrets” is its tense relationship with Defense Secretary (War) Pete Hegseth. Driscoll is widely considered to take over the job if Hegseth is forced to leave, the newspaper notes. He has “definitely made it clear” that he wants to lead the Pentagon, says a former US defense official.
Journalists note that at 38, Driscoll became the youngest US Secretary of the Army in history. He attended Yale Law School at the same time as Vance and became friends with him.
Currently, as Secretary of the Army, Driscoll oversees the Army's $185 billion budget, nearly 1 million military personnel, more than 265,000 civilians and military procurement. Driscoll has invited private equity firms to invest in the military and wants to entice more commercial and defense technology companies to sign on for contracts, the article said.
Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislitsa says Driscoll “was very active, enthusiastic, and ready to listen” during his visit to Ukraine. But the negotiations in Kyiv did not go entirely smoothly. One senior European official described the tone of Driscoll's meeting with European ambassadors and Western officials as “sickening.” When asked about the Russian occupation of part of Ukrainian lands, he says that “there are cities, disputed territories that will end up in the hands of the Russian Federation, it’s only a matter of time… The deal won’t get better, it will get worse.”
Context
Bloomberg wrote that the 28-point plan, which was agreed upon by Vitkoff and the special representative of the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin on investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, was not accepted, because it had too many contradictory aspects.
After a response from Ukraine and European partners during negotiations in Geneva on November 23, the Russian-American document was changed, reducing it to 19 provisions. The White House released a statement after the negotiations that the amended draft peace agreement reflects the national interests of Ukraine.
On November 25, Trump expressed the opinion that the agreements to resolve the war of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation against Ukraine very close.
