Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) grilled Elbridge Colby, President Trump’s pick to serve as undersecretary of Defense for policy, over his evolving stances on Iran, Taiwan and NATO allies.

Republican senators have privately raised concerns over Colby’s past statements, specifically what they interpret as his past desire to shift U.S. national security focus away from the Middle East and Europe and toward Taiwan and China.

Senate GOP sources say that Colby’s nomination may get less deference from Republican senators now that the Senate has confirmed most controversial Trump’s Cabinet picks, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

GOP senators are particularly alarmed over Colby’s past suggestion that the United States could tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran and that it would not be in the nation’s interest to launch military operations to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure.

Republican members of the Armed Services Committee also pressed Colby on what some view as his softening stance on defending Taiwan, given what the nominee has called an emerging military capabilities imbalance between China, which now has the world’s largest maritime fighting force, and the United States, which faces defense spending cuts.

Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, asked some of the most pointed questions at Colby’s confirmation hearing........

© The Hill