NEW YORK –- Douglas Frantz, the national security editor for the Washington Post, is considering taking a job with the State Department and is currently on leave from the paper, according to newsroom sources.
A Post spokeswoman confirmed that Frantz is on leave, but declined to comment further. Frantz did not respond to The Huffington Post's requests for comment on his office, cell and home phone numbers. He did not respond to multiple email requests.
This wouldn't be the first time Frantz left journalism for government work.
After over three decades as an investigative reporter and high-ranking editor at publications like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, Frantz took a position as an investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
In that position, Frantz’s duties –- such as working on a public report on Iran’s nuclear program -– weren’t too dissimilar from his work as an investigative journalist. He then worked for nine months at consulting firm Kroll.
Frantz then returned to journalism last year as the Post’s national security editor.
"I don’t think of it as the other side," Frantz told HuffPost last year about his work in government. "I thought of it as two-and-a-half years of public service. I was happy and honored to work for the Foreign Relations Committee. It wasn't political. It was honorable work. I was glad to do that, but I'm absolutely passionate about this."
At least one other prominent journalist has already taken a government job this year. Boston Globe editor Glen Johnson took a senior staff position in the State Department following Kerry’s appointment as Secretary of State.
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