The US Senate has unanimously confirmed Leon Panetta's nomination to be defence secretary.
All 100 members of the Senate have approved the nomination of Mr Panetta, a rare move of unanimity for a federal government official.
The incoming defence chief will have to oversee a troubled war in Afghanistan, the withdrawal of the remaining US troops from Iraq, and US involvement in the NATO-led Libya campaign.
But politicians have hailed his role in tracking down and eliminating Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a dramatic US commando raid last month deep in Pakistan.
'The nomination of Leon Panetta to be secretary of defence is a wise and solid one,' said Senator Carl Levin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
John McCain, the top Republican on Mr Levin's panel, has said that as CIA director, Mr Panetta 'has demonstrated he possesses the experience and ability to ensure that we achieve our objectives in the three conflicts in which US forces are now engaged: Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya'.
Mr Panetta, who began his political career as a politician in Congress, becomes the first Democrat to hold the top defence job since William Perry in 1997.
In a break with outgoing Pentagon chief Robert Gates, Mr Panetta, who turns 73 next week, has said he supported the withdrawal of a significant number of troops from Afghanistan next month.
President Barack Obama is due to announce later tonight 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 the war.
A senior defence official said on condition of anonymity that the president would 'likely' order the withdrawal of about 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year. Half would come out this summer and half by the end of 2011.
Another 20,000 troops, part of a 30,000 strong surge ordered in December 2009, would be withdrawn by the end of next year, meaning elevated force levels would remain through two more Afghan summer fighting seasons.
