President Bush has confirmed former State Department counterterrorism chief L Paul 'Jerry' Bremer as the top US civil administrator in Iraq.
Mr Bremer will outrank the US civil administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner, and presidential envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who will still lead reconstruction efforts and coordinate political reforms with Iraqis.
'In selecting Jerry Bremer, our country will be sending one of our best citizens. He's a man with enormous experience. He's a person who knows how to get things done. He's a can-do type person,' President Bush said in the Oval Office.
Mr Bremer, who is 61, is to be the senior US civilian official in Iraq. Army General Tommy Franks will maintain command of military personnel.
He will report directly to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, looked on as the president made the announcement.
Mr Bremer served 23 years in the State Department, most notably as ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism from 1986 to 1989. He later joined a consulting firm headed by former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
He is chairman of the Crisis Consulting Practice of Marsh Inc., an operating company of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.
The Crisis Consulting Practice provides services to companies to assist them in dealing with crises including natural disasters, workplace violence and terrorism.
He has also worked for Kissinger Associates, a consulting firm headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that he joined in 1989 following a 23-year career in the diplomatic service.
Washington says it has not decided whether to let the UN nuclear watchdog agency send a team into Iraq to investigate reports of widespread looting at the country's nuclear facilities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had made the request last week, but has not received a response from US officials.
It fears radioactive material may have gone missing and could be used to make a so-called 'dirty bomb', despite repeated assurances from the US that the sites have been secured.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said there were no decisions at this point about what role the agency may have in evaluating and monitoring sites.
