NBC News names new national security team leaders

Chloe Arensberg, Michelle Perry and Tom Namako at NBC News sent the following to the DC bureau:

All,

We are excited to announce a new editorial leadership structure for the National Security team, helping ensure that our work in this critical area of coverage is urgent, exclusive and revelatory across all NBC News platforms.

Carol Lee will become Managing Editor, National Security. In this position, Carol will be the lead editorial driver, editor and manager of our national security and foreign policy reporting teams.

She will set priorities concerning the leaders, policies and major cases emerging from the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon, State Department, Department of Justice, FBI and beyond. Everyone who has worked with Carol knows she has sharp editorial judgment and approaches the news with a collaborative spirit across teams and platforms.

Carol brings a unique set of skills and experience to the role. She was a key member of the White House Unit as a correspondent. As managing editor of Washington, she worked hand-in-hand with the international, national security and digital teams to publish exclusive reporting about the Biden and Trump administrations. She is deeply sourced and approaches the beat with fairness, curiosity and rigor.

Carol will report jointly to Washington Deputy Bureau Chief Michelle Perry and Senior Executive Editor for Digital Tom Namako. Her role is effective immediately.

Colleen Long will become Editorial Director, National Security. In this role reporting to Carol Lee, Colleen will be the lead deputy overseeing national security coverage, especially reporting from DHS, the Department of Justice, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Those who have worked with Colleen know she is a “reporter’s editor” — always hungry to talk about advancing storylines, dig into what sources are hearing and publish accurate and impactful journalism on some of the biggest news of the moment.

Colleen joined NBC News earlier this year after 20 years at The Associated Press. There, she was a reporter or editor on many of the core beats she will oversee on the national security team: White House reporter, national law enforcement and Justice Department editor, homeland security correspondent and law enforcement correspondent. At NBC News she has served as a senior editor on the enterprise team, leading deep reporting on the FDA and this year’s deadly flooding in Texas, among other storylines.

Colleen will start in this role on Jan. 5.