The following excerpt was sent out from The Washington Post national editor Matea Gold and deputy national editor Philip Rucker:
We are thrilled to announce that Ben Pauker is joining The Post as our new National Security editor. We are also excited to announce that we are moving several beats that had been part of the National Security team to a new Justice and Immigration team, which will be led by Debbi Wilgoren.
Ben joins The Post from Politico, where he has served as national security and world editor, responsible for coverage of diplomacy, defense and Canada, coordinating staff in Washington with more than 100 reporters and editors across Europe.
Before joining Politico, Ben was managing editor for Vox, overseeing all web content and the newsroom of journalists and editors, including teams that covered politics and policy, Washington, foreign, and tech. He served for seven years as a top editor at Foreign Policy magazine, overseeing coverage of Washington and the world that garnered multiple National Magazine awards and nominations, three Overseas Press Club of America awards, a Robert F. Kennedy Award and a George Polk Award for feature photography.
Ben also served as managing editor of World Policy Journal in New York. He has reported or written for Harper’s, the Chicago Tribune, Frontline/World and the Economist, among other publications.
Debbi, who has spent her entire career at The Post, joined the national security team as a deputy editor in July 2021 and quickly distinguished herself as someone who deftly runs fast-moving and complex storylines.
Before joining National, Debbi spent seven years as an editor on Local, overseeing local politics, health and immigration coverage and editing ambitious stories on the impact of the pandemic on Maryland nursing homes, the rise of power among female Black leaders in Prince George’s County, and racial disparities in covid victims and vaccination efforts, among many other topics.
She began her career at The Post as a news aide in 1990, and then did a two-year stint as an intern working the night police shift during the height of the District’s homicide epidemic. She later covered public education, local courts, religion, poverty, gentrification and federal courts.
Please join us in welcoming Ben and congratulating Debbi. They begin their new roles on Oct. 10.