Tauscher leaving House seat for Clinton's State Department

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., announced on Wednesday that she was leaving her House seat to accept the Obama administration's nomination as undersecretary for arms control and international security at the State Department.

This could be an interesting choice for several reasons. The position was filled by an acting head, John Rood, from mid-2007 through the end of George W. Bush's term. Rood, who was a former NSC staffer and aide to Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., was never confirmed by the Senate; an undersecretary who has gone through the full confirmation process will bring more muscle to the position. And the nomination of a member of Congress would signal the Obama administration's commitment to pledges he made on the campaign trail to pursue nonproliferation.

It could also be a highly influential post in government. It was the launching pad for the controversial conservative John Bolton, who took the lead on arms control issues in the job and became an outspoken hawk on Iran and North Korea.

Tauscher has a reputation as someone with knowledge of the nuclear arsenal and nonproliferation issues, and the Lawrence Livermore nuclear weapons laboratory sits in her district. Tauscher pushed legislation to fund nuclear weapons dismantlement, and she's also led House opposition to funding controversial Energy Department research programs into smaller "bunker busting" nuclear weapons.

On general national security matters, she's somewhat hawkish, but has at times walked a tight rope. She voted for the 2002 resolution to wage war against Iraq. In May 2007, she voted for a failed amendment by Rob Andrews, D-N.J., that would have prevented Iraq and Afghanistan war funding to be expanded into any operation against Iran. But she switched sides and voted against a more sweeping amendment by Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio that stated no previous law authorized military action against Iran.