The Washington Post will name veteran Post reporter Peter Finn as the paper's new national security editor, according a staff email obtained by The Huffington Post.
On Sunday night, National editor Cameron Barr informed the national security staff over email that Finn had "prevailed in the nat sec sweepstakes."
"In a period of sometimes daunting uncertainties, it's good to know that in Peter and [deputy national security editor Jason Ukman] we have a pair of experienced and dedicated colleagues leading one of our most important coverage areas," Barr wrote. "Thanks to all of you for forbearance, diligence and wise counsel during the transition. Onward and upward."
The Huffington Post reported in June that Douglas Frantz, a veteran journalist who took the national security editor position in 2012, was taking leave from the paper while considering a job at the State Department. Frantz had left journalism once before to take a position as an investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was helmed at the time by then-Senator, and now Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Finn joined the Post from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1995. He started out covering Virginia for the Post before going overseas for 10 years, according to his staff bio:
He reported on the 1999 war in Kosovo and its aftermath. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Finn covered terrorism for the Post, traveling extensively in the Middle East, North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and Pakistan. He was also part of the Post team that covered the invasion of Iraq, and the American occupation. His last overseas assignment was the Russia-Georgia war, and Finn returned to Washington in 2008.
In the staff email, Barr said that a formal announcement will go out on Monday.
UPDATE 1:48 pm: Here's the internal announcement:
We are delighted to announce that Peter Finn is The Washington Post's new National Security editor.
Peter's distinguished background as a foreign correspondent and national security reporter superbly qualifies him for this position, as does his reputation for collegiality and calm. He is a meticulous fact-finder with a talent for crafting clear, vigorous prose, and we are eager to see him take on one of the newsroom's most demanding editing roles.
Ever since he found himself in Mohammed Atta's apartment in Hamburg in September 2001, Peter has concentrated on national security matters, notably terrorists and their pursuers in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, and the detainees at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Peter has reported from nearly 50 countries, including conflict zones in Iraq, the Balkans and Georgia and was The Post's bureau chief in Warsaw, Berlin and Moscow.
Peter was twice a Pulitzer finalist as part of Post teams for coverage of the wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan. He was the Robert F. Kennedy Grand Prize winner for coverage of Kosovo and the U.S. German Marshall Fund's Peter Weitz award winner for stories on al-Qaeda in Europe. He previously worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he won APME and other awards for investigative reporting and feature writing.
Please join us in congratulating him on his new role, which is effective immediately.
Cameron and Anne