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General John Allen said Tuesday he has decided to retire for "personal" reasons, leaving behind his nomination as the NATO supreme allied commander.

Republicans have, for now, blocked Chuck Hagel's nomination to become defense secretary.

A US Senate panel has approved Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's new Secretary of Defense. The move sets the stage for his confirmation in front of the full Senate, possibly this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday voted 14-11 along party lines, advancing the former Republican Senator from Nebraska's confirmation to take over from Leon Panetta as the head of the Defense department.

Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice to lead the Pentagon, has enough Senate votes committed to him to overcome a filibuster and secure the nomination, according to Sen. Carl Levin and an administration source working on the issue.

A leading Republican senator is threatening to hold up Senate confirmation of President Obama's nominees to lead the Defense Department and the CIA until the White House provides more answers about the deadly Sept. 11 attack against a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday that there's a chance Republicans will filibuster former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel's nomination as secretary of defense. "Sen. Hagel did not do a very good job before the Armed Services committee," McConnell said. "I think the opposition to him is intensifying. Whether that means he will end up having to achieve 60 votes or 51 is not clear yet." McConnell did not say how he planned to vote.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has formally resigned as America's 67th secretary of state, capping a four-year tenure in the office that saw her shatter previous records for countries visited.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the panel that John Kerry has led for the past four years, unanimously approved his nomination, and the full Senate was set to vote.

In an embarrassing setback for President Barack Obama, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday that he violated the Constitution in making certain recess appointments and moved to curtail a chief executive's ability in the future to circumvent the Senate in such scenarios.

President Barack Obama has chosen longtime trusted adviser and national security expert Denis McDonough as his fifth chief of staff.