Rose Gottemoeller speaks at Moscow State Institute of International Relations event in 2012 | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images Republicans round on Obama’s NATO choice Administration’s pick as alliance no.2 accused of misleading Congress and being soft on Russia.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s choice to fill the number-two slot at NATO in Brussels is drawing fierce opposition — but not from allies in Europe or Canada. Instead, it’s U.S. congressional Republicans who are taking aim at Rose Gottemoeller, a high-ranking U.S. diplomat, in a fight that reflects broader partisan tensions in Washington over U.S. policies toward Russia.

Days after Secretary of State John Kerry sent word that he would be nominating Gottemoeller to take the NATO deputy secretary-general post when the current occupant, Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow, departs later this year, a group of Republicans in the U.S. House wrote to Kerry demanding that he rescind the nomination.

The group says that Gottemoeller, who is currently U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, misled Congress about Russian weapon systems in a December 1, 2015 hearing and accused her of providing “seemingly false” statements about Russian violations of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2008, “ostensibly withholding information from NATO” about the violations, and failing to impose sanctions on Russian firms.

"We believe Ms. Gottemoeller has exhibited a pattern of behavior that suggests she may have repeatedly misled Members of Congress and our NATO allies. Given the important role NATO plays in bringing stability to both Europe and North America, it is imperative to have the right individuals selected to execute this role. Ms. Gottemoeller has shown she does not posses [sic] the qualities necessary that this esteemed position requires," said the letter, which is signed by 13 House Republicans, all chairs of subcommittees on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees. No members of President’s Obama’s Democratic party signed the letter.

The Obama administration has responded forcefully to the charges against Gottemoeller, calling the accusations misinformed and “an affront to her character and integrity.”

The State Department referred POLITICO to comments made by its chief spokesman, John Kirby, at a March 14 press briefing. He said that Kerry believes Gottemoeller is more than qualified for the post and said that “any suggestion that she has been anything other than completely forthcoming and honest with members of Congress about Russian activity with respect to the INF – they’re just not based in fact,” he said. “She’s served this country very well and honestly, and again, we believe she’s – we’re proud of our nomination of her to this post.”

Kirby added that Gottemoeller “has impeccable credentials for that job,” and the State Department hopes to see her nomination “move forward.”

The House Foreign Affairs committee’s ranking Democrat, Eliot Engel, backed up the State Department’s view of Gottemoeller and said she “is an eminently qualified nominee for NATO Deputy Secretary-General.”

“As Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, she’s been around the block with the Russians, and she knows just what it takes to deal with the bullies in Moscow who seem intent on testing NATO’s resolve,” Engel added.

Democrat Jim Cooper, who serves on the House Armed Services committee, said she is "highly qualified to be NATO Deputy Secretary-General.” Moreover, Cooper thinks it’s important Goettemoeller gets the job, because he feels the post should be held by an American.

“If Rose is not chosen, the post will go to one of our allies,” said Cooper. “The American taxpayer does more to support this military alliance against Russia and other threats than anyone else.”

Republican opposition to Gottemoeller isn’t new; conservatives have long raised concerns that she is soft on Russia, going back to her days as head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s office in Moscow. A former deputy undersecretary of energy for defense nuclear nonproliferation during the Clinton administration, she was confirmed to her current position on a largely party-line Senate vote in 2014.

The bigger question, however, is whether any other NATO members will oppose Gottemoeller’s nomination. Her critics in Washington are stressing, privately, that the NATO deputy post normally hasn’t been an American-held position anyway — an invitation, of sorts, for European allies to put forth their own candidates.

Vershbow, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration and a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Russia under George W. Bush, is viewed as more of a hawk when it comes to Russia. He has served as deputy NATO secretary-general since early 2012.

Given the level of partisan tension over the pick, it’s unlikely that Gottemoeller would be kept in the post beyond next year if a Republican were to win the White House in the upcoming U.S. election, in the view of one former State Department official.

Gottemoeller is set to testify Thursday before the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on the Obama administration’s nuclear agenda. Ahead of the hearing, Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the committee, added to the chorus of Democratic support for Gottemoeller, calling her “an impressive public servant who worked on many of the most difficult security and nonproliferation issues confronting the United States.”

Noting her work crafting the New START treaty [on arms reduction], and efforts to reduce the nuclear proliferation risk after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cardin said “it would be difficult to find a more qualified person for the position of Deputy Secretary-General to NATO."