Massachusetts: Senate Foreign Relations Committee

The ship captain from Vermont who survived a harrowing hostage ordeal testified this afternoon before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is examining the threat of piracy off the Horn of Africa, and possible solutions. Captain Richard Phillips, 53,...

As the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry announced the committee's staff for the 111th Congress on Thursday.

David McKean, who has worked as Kerry's chief of staff since 1999, will become staff director of the committee. Kerry also named Doug Frantz, a former investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, as the committee's chief investigator.

Upon being sworn in to the United States Senate for his fifth term on Tuesday, John Kerry said that he is energized to get to work in the 111th Congress.

Kerry, a Boston Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Jeff Beatty last year to earn his fifth term in the Senate. Looking ahead to the next session of Congress, Kerry said he looks forward to working with his colleague, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Hyannis Port).

U.S. Sen. John Kerry was officially named the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the next session of Congress on Monday, bringing a lengthy career in international affair to a culmination.