The confirmation hearing is set for March 26 on the nomination of Ashton Carter, Harvard physicist and former Clinton Administration assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, to become the new Pentagon weapons czar, replacing John Young. President Obama formally nominated Carter on March 18, having signaled his intent to nominate him late last month.
The U.S. military conducted a new series of airstrikes on Iran June 26, a day after Tehran struck a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The twin attacks presented a fresh test for a tenuous ceasefire between the two countries.