Barack Obama Cabinet

• Two Obama cabinet nominees face key votes today

  New picks to lead the Pentagon and the US Treasury face key hurdles Tuesday in the Senate, as President Barack Obama fleshes out his second-term cabinet amid trying times for defense and finance.

• Barack Obama picks female business executive for Interior Department

  President Barack Obama will seek to add another woman to his cabinet on Wednesday by picking business executive Sally Jewell to head the vast Interior Department, a White House official said.

• Barack Obama's defense pick faces rough going in Senate

  President Barack Obama's pick of Chuck Hagel to run the Pentagon faces rough going in the Senate as a handful of Republicans quickly announced their opposition to a former GOP colleague, and several skeptical Democrats reserved judgment until the nominee explains his views on Israel and Iran.

• Barack Obama taps Chuck Hagel for Pentagon, John Brennan for CIA

  President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, two potentially controversial picks for his second-term national security team.

• On foreign policy, Democratic Senator John Kerry is Barack Obama's good soldier

  Democratic Senator John Kerry stands tall as President Barack Obama's good soldier.