David Hoffman, who has been foreign editor of The Washington Post for the past four years, was named yesterday to be assistant managing editor for foreign news.
Hoffman, 51, a published author and award-winning reporter who has covered the White House, Jerusalem and Moscow during a Post career that began in 1982, succeeds Philip Bennett, who became the newspaper's managing editor Jan. 1.
Hoffman guided Iraq coverage.
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In his new role, Hoffman will take full charge of what he described as a "state-of-the-art" staff of two dozen correspondents in 19 bureaus at a time when, he said, "the world is changing so quickly" and "foreign news is coming home."
The work, he said, "is a huge responsibility" and, at the same time, "it's also exciting."
In announcing Hoffman's appointment, which takes effect at once, Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Bennett praised his work in helping to guide The Post's coverage of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as prize-winning enterprise reports on a range of matters.
They said colleagues have credited him with bringing out their best. They also cited his knowledge of the craft of foreign reporting -- some of it collected in a correspondents' guidebook -- that they said has helped the staff maneuver through a period of peril.
Hoffman was born in Palo Alto, Calif., grew up in Delaware and attended the University of Delaware. He came to Washington in 1977 to work for the Capitol Hill News Service. As a member of the Washington bureau of the San Jose Mercury News, he covered Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. In May 1982, he joined The Post to help cover the Reagan White House. He also covered the first two years of the George H.W. Bush presidency.
His White House coverage won three national journalism awards.
After reporting on the State Department, he became Jerusalem bureau chief for The Post in 1992. After studying the Russian language at Oxford University, he began six years in Moscow.
Hoffman is the author of "The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia," published in 2002. He is working on a book about the end of the Cold War arms race and the fate of the weapons that were built for it.
He lives in Maryland, and he and his wife have two children.
