Two Obama administration veterans face a reckoning over their work on the Iran nuclear deal this week as they seek senior national security posts in U.S. President Joe Biden’s Defense and State Departments.
Wendy Sherman, Biden’s nominee to be the deputy secretary of state, and Colin Kahl, nominee to be the Pentagon’s top policy official, both face Senate confirmation hearings this week where they are expected to be grilled on their work negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and Biden’s new approach to the United States’ top Middle Eastern rival. Some Democratic lawmakers and former Obama officials have lauded both picks, saying they are well-qualified for the jobs. Republicans, however, are signaling their skepticism of the nominees, raising the stakes in a divided Senate where there is little margin for error.
