US Army secretary takes unlikely role as key negotiator in push to end Russia

WASHINGTON -- In a matter of days, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll vaulted from being the leader of a military bureaucracy — where he's been cutting red tape to quickly buy inexpensive drones — to a key negotiator in the Trump administration's push to end the Russia-Ukraine war . The boyish Iraq War veteran, former venture capitalist and friend of Vice President JD Vance went from presenting President Donald Trump’s plan to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv to sitting down with Russian officials in the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Tuesday, heading up the latest phase of talks on a possible deal to halt the fighting. Trump appears to believe Driscoll's efforts are going well, posting on social media that “my team has made tremendous progress.” “In the hopes of finalizing thi