Senate panel to take up Pentagon spokesman nomination

The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to meet Dec. 13 -- possibly behind closed doors -- to consider Dorrance Smith to be the Pentagon's top spokesman.

Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., and other committee Democrats have vowed to fight the nomination of the former ABC News executive, taking issue with his published suggestions that U.S. television networks are partners with terrorist groups.

After Smith's initial confirmation hearing Oct. 25, Levin told reporters that his views, expressed in an April opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, were "so far over the top it is unacceptable."

A Levin spokeswoman said the senator's concerns have not been eased.

Meanwhile, a committee spokesman said the panel is still deciding whether the hearing would be open or closed. The committee's Web site lists the confirmation hearing as an executive session with restricted staff attendance.

"We're just trying to determine what is the best format for the hearing," the spokesman said.

Smith served as the senior media adviser to Coalition Provisional Authority Ambassador Paul Bremer from September 2003 to June 2004.