The White House has nominated former Washington Post scribe Douglas Frantz to head public affairs at the State Department, taking over a role held by Ambassador to Chile nominee Mike Hammer.

Mitchell
Frantz and Collins in a promo photo for their 2011 book.
Frantz was national security editor at the Post after private and public sector gigs at Kroll Advisory Solutions and the US. Foreign Relations Committee, where he was chief investigator.

President Obama announced the appointment on Sept. 3 as Secretary of State John Kerry took a lead role in pressing the administration's case to attack Syria.

After a stint at the now-defunct Conde Nast Portfolio, Frantz was an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times and business reporter at the New York Times. He co-authored "Fallout: The True Story of the CIA's Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking" with Catherine Collins (2011).

At the State Dept., he takes the role of assistant secretary for PA by presidential appointment.

Hammer, a career diplomat and government communications aide who grew up in Latin America, took over State PA in June 2012 under Secretary Hillary Clinton after the tumultuous exit a year earlier of P.J. Crowley, who criticized the military detention of Pfc. Bradley Manning.

President Obama nominated him as the U.S. envoy to Chile in June.