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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

The State Department says the U.S. wants stockpiles of chemical weapons in Syria locked down

and destroyed.

As NPR's Jackie Northam explains, there are concerns about security weapons sites after

the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. is working with partners in the Mideast

region to secure stockpiles of chemical weapons in Syria. The Assad regime used sarin and

chlorine-based weapons widely during Syria's long-running civil war. Miller says the main rebel group,

HTS, has publicly pledged not to touch the weapons.

They do not want to use chemical weapons.

They have no interest in using chemical weapons.

That's a productive statement.

But we want to see those chemical weapons stockpiles secured,

and we want to see them ultimately destroyed.

Israel says it's already launched strikes against a number of chemical weapon sites in Syria.

Jackie Northam, NPR News.

Some of President-elect Donald Trump's more controversial picks are making the rounds on Capitol Hill,

including his nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, former House member Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard's appearance comes at a particularly interesting time,

given that she visited Syrian President, Michelle Assad, in 2017. The Assad government collapsed over the

weekend with the authoritarian leader fleeing to Moscow. Also making the rounds of this week are

...