By Adam Graham-Silverman, CQ Staff

With the nomination of Susan E. Rice to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, President-elect Barack Obama would elevate a close adviser into a key role of outreach to the world.

Obama said he would make the post a Cabinet-level position, as it was under President Bill Clinton.

Sen. John Kerry , D-Mass., the incoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and its ranking Republican, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, both praised Rice as part of the national security team Obama announced Monday in Chicago. Lugar and Rice were both Rhodes scholars, and he said he had “great respect” for her testimony to the panel.

The committee will hold confirmation hearings in January on Rice and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , D-N.Y., the nominee for secretary of State.

Obama said Rice would pursue his goal of greater U.S. engagement with other countries and multilateral institutions.

“She shares my belief that the U.N. is an indispensable and imperfect forum,” Obama said. “She will carry the message that our commitment to multilateral action must be coupled with a commitment to reform.”

U.S.-U.N. relations deteriorated under the Bush administration, particularly during the service of John Bolton as ambassador in 2005 and 2006. Zalmay Khalilzad now holds that post.

“We need the United Nations to be more effective as a venue for collective action against terror and proliferation, climate change and genocide, poverty and disease,” Obama said.

Timothy E. Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, which supports U.N. work, said the pick shows that Obama is serious about re-engaging with the world.

“Ms. Rice understands the importance of fostering international cooperation as a means of tackling the great global challenges we face, including climate change, poverty, nuclear proliferation and terrorism,” Wirth said.

Rice, 44, who is not related to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , went on leave from her position as senior fellow at the Brookings Institution to be a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama’s campaign. She was assistant secretary of State for African affairs from 1997 to 2001—a job for which she breezed to confirmation despite her young age. She served on Clinton’s National Security Council from 1993 to 1997.

“To enhance our common security, we must invest in our common humanity,” Rice said, citing terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and genocide as key issues. “And to do so, we need capable partners and far more effective international institutions.”

She could be questioned about her earlier calls for U.S. military action against Sudan if violence in the Darfur region continued.