State Dept. official, a former NY Times editor, to discuss press freedom, noon May 18

Doug Frantz, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, will discuss press freedom issues May 18 at a luncheon meeting of National Press Club American Legion 20.

All Club members are invited to attend the speaker portions of Post meetings, which begin at noon in the McClendon Room.

Frantz was a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter and editor before joining the State Department in 2013. His 35-year journalism career included being national security editor of The Washington Post, managing editor of the Los Angeles Times and investigations editor at The New York Times. He shared a Pulitzer for coverage of the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

He worked for Sen. John Kerry as deputy staff director and chief investigator of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prior to Kerry's appoint as Secretary of State.