The Washington Post says former U.S. National Security Council senior aide Daniel Poneman has been named the assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation.

The paper also says former director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Rose Gottemoeller, is the new the assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance, and implementation.

Once the verification process begins on the North Korean nuclear program, the two officials will likely work closely with undersecretary for arms control and international security nominee Robert Einhorn, and will oversee working level affairs.

Poneman is an expert on national security, nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction and nuclear energy. He played a key role in the 1994 signing of the Geneva Agreed Framework between the U.S. and North Korea.

The Post also says Alexander Vershbow who was ambassador to Seoul from late 2005 to last September, will now be working under Michele Flournoy, the current undersecretary of defense for policy.