The AP announced this morning that Alan Fram will be the wire's new military and international affairs news editor, based in the D.C. bureau.

The new post takes the 52-year-old Fram away from his long-time beat on Capitol Hill, where he's been since 1987 and the days of Speaker Jim Wright and Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd. (In fact he's had more time on Capitol Hill than 72 of the current senators and 363 of the current House representatives.) He's specialized in the exciting world of budget and spending issues.

Fram's a former chair of the Standing Committee of Correspondents, the body that oversees credentialing on the Hill, and the 2002 recipient of the Everett McKinley Dirksen award for distinguished reporting on Congress.