WASHINGTON — Retired U.S. Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to become the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, will have his Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 14, U.S. Sen. Dan Akaka said yesterday.

Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which will hold the hearing, said he scheduled it shortly after the new Congress convenes so the Senate can act on the nomination quickly.

"I am proud to support General Shinseki's nomination, and I look forward to a long and productive relationship with him as secretary," he said.

Shinseki, a Hawai'i native who graduated from Kaua'i High School, was nominated over the weekend.

A decorated soldier who has served at every level in the Army, "General Shinseki understands the changing needs of our troops and their families," Obama said. "And he will be a VA secretary who finally modernizes our VA to meet the challenges of our time."

Shinseki, 66, who served two tours in Vietnam, became the Army's first four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry and served as chief of staff of the Army before retiring in 2003 after 38 years in the military.

Shinseki's retirement came months after he testified to Congress that it could take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, vilified Shinseki, saying the estimate was much too high. But in 2007, Bush championed sending a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq to control a rise in violence.