That was fast. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) just announced that the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he chairs, will hold confirmation hearings Thursday for President-elect Barack Obama’s new Pentagon subcabinet team. This conflicts with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) confirmation hearings for secretary of state, being held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is annoying and inconvenient. Watch for what Undersecretary of Defense-designee Michele Flournoy says about the role of counterinsurgency in forthcoming Pentagon policy postures.

Update: OOOOOOPS. Sorry about that, HRC’s hearing is on Tuesday, not Thursday. I regret the error. Thanks to Adam Blickstein of Democracy Arsenal for setting me right.