The US Senate Tuesday unanimously confirmed CIA chief Leon Panetta's nomination to be defense secretary, replacing the outgoing head of the Pentagon, Robert Gates. All 100 members of the Senate approved the nomination of Panetta, who turns 73 next week, hailing his service as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency during which the United States tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden.

In a break with Gates, Panetta has said he supported the withdrawal of a significant number of troops from Afghanistan next month. Obama is due to announce Wednesday his plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan as the military works to put Afghans in charge of their own security by 2014 and wrap up what is now an almost decade-long war.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011