North Korea is still capable of running a series of nuclear weapons tests, despite reports from U.S. intelligence officials that there are no near-term indications the country is planning to conduct such drills, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday. 

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said he believed Congress would need to pass legislation to prevent the Pentagon from allowing women to serve in some combat positions.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said that the 1994 ban on women in ground combat units “has worked so well for so long,” and he was concerned about the impact of ending the ban completely.

“We will be able to introduce legislation to stop any changes we believe to be detrimental to our fighting forces and their capabilities,” Inhofe said in a statement after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey rescinded the ban Thursday. “I suspect there will be cases where legislation becomes necessary.”

This sets in motion a three-year plan to open up as many as 237,000 positions to female service members.

The investigation will find whether strikes by the United States and others violate international human-rights laws.

Press secretary Jay Carney warned that a nuclear test would be a "significant violation" of U.N. resolutions.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama has long thought that the military should remove “gender-based barriers to service.”

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) on Thursday praised Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat positions. 

“This is a major step — it’s long overdue, but it’s a great recognition now, not only of all the women who are currently serving overseas, many of them in these combat-type situations already, but for all women who have ever served,” said Gabbard in an interview on CNN’s “Starting Point.”

The Topline: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made an announcement Wednesday that could resonate in the military long after he’s gone, moving to end the ban on women in combat.

Panetta will issue the formal announcement Thursday, along with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, making official the plan for the service chiefs to begin implementing the end of the ban.

The news will be one of Panetta’s largest policy changes as Defense secretary, and also could be his last major move before his successor takes over the Pentagon.

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The Obama administration can claim victory in its efforts to decapitate al Qaeda's core leadership, despite the recent resurgence among the group's terror cells in West Africa, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday.