WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he nominated Dan Brouillette, deputy secretary of energy, to be the new head of the department.

"I am pleased to nominate Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette to be the new Secretary of Energy," the president said on social media, adding that current Energy Secretary Rick Perry will leave at the end of the year.

Perry, formerly the governor of Texas, has drawn scrutiny for his role in Trump's controversial efforts to push Ukraine to probe Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son. He told the president on Thursday he would resign from the cabinet.

Brouillette, an army veteran from San Antonio, Texas, was the senior vice president and head of public policy for USAA, the U.S. leading provider of financial services to the military before joining the Energy Department, according to his resume posted on the Energy Department website.

Before working for USAA, he was a vice president of Ford Motor Company, where he led the automaker's domestic policy teams and served on its North American Operating Committee.

He has also worked as chief of staff to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has broad jurisdictional and oversight authority over five Cabinet-level Federal agencies.