Obama Seeks Senate Confirmation for Top Arms Control Post at State

President Obama on Thursday asked senators to confirm a key State Department arms control official to a post she has filled on a provisional basis for more than a year.

The administration in February 2012 announced it had tapped Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller to also serve as the department's acting undersecretary for arms control and international security, succeeding Ellen Tauscher in that role. Obama last September announced he would nominate Gottemoeller for formal appointment to the position.

The assignment requires Gottemoeller to oversee operations by the arms control bureau she has headed since April 2009 as well as two other offices: the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau and the Political-Military Affairs Bureau.

Gottemoeller is an arms control veteran who served as the Obama administration's lead negotiator for the U.S.-Russian New START nuclear treaty.