US President George W Bush has nominated a new national intelligence director and deputy secretary of state.
Retired Navy Admiral John McConnell has been nominated as national intelligence director, while John Negroponte is to be deputy Secretary of State to Condoleezza Rice.
The changes come just days before Mr Bush is expected to announce a shift in military strategy in Iraq in order to tackle the continuing violence.
US officials have said that Mr Bush will announce a new head of US central command and a new ground commander in a speech next week.
Mr Bush's changes would follow the passing of control of the US Congress to the Democrats for the first time in 12 years.
The Democrats wish to apply pressure for a phased Iraq withdrawal, however Mr Bush has said he is still involved in consultations as he develops a new strategy for Iraq.
While the US President is expected to call for an increase in US troop levels in the short term, the new Democrat-controlled Congress is likely to press for a move in the opposite direction.
In another development, the US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, is set to be nominated to replace John Bolton as the US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Mr Bush has told journalists that Saddam Hussein's execution should have been carried out 'in a more dignified way' and called on the Iraqi authorities to fully investigate what had happened.
Images of the execution showed the former Iraqi leader and his executioners exchanging taunts.
However Mr Bush that Saddam Hussein had received 'the due process that was denied to his victims'.
