Could the BPTOT be any bigger? All right, she won't be talking politics (too much), but Fran Townsend is the latest former Bush Administration official to sign up with CNN.

"This is a critical time for our country," Townsend said in a press release. "Having just come off the front lines in the war on terrorism, I'm excited to be able to speak directly to American and global viewers who need to know how serious the threat is, what is being done about it and how much is left to do."

The release is after the jump...

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First on TVNewser: Following FBN's announcement of changes to the day time schedule, there will now be a new EP to lead the programming.

Andy Hoffman has been promoted to Executive Producer, Market Hours (9amET-4pmET) for the Fox Business Network. Hoffman will oversee all coverage during those hours.

Hoffman previously was an executive producer of daytime content with the network. Before joining FBN last year, Hoffman served as a senior producer for ABC's Good Morning America from 2004-2007.

He also previously worked for CNBC as an executive producer.

• Related: The Omaha World-Herald writes about Liz Claman's sit-down with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, a big recent interview produced by Hoffman. Claman said the crew of nine slept three hours a night while in Omaha covering last weekend's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

SI.com is reporting CBS News anchor Hannah Storm will move up to Bristol and become a member of ESPN. Storm's contract with CBS News expires this month.

Storm will join ESPN as a co-anchor of the new morning edition of Sports Center. Richard Deitsch reports the formal announcement will be made tomorrow at ESPN's upfront presentation.

Storm was moved off CBS' The Early Show in December. Before CBS, she held sports anchoring jobs at CNN and NBC.

Three operations moves this afternoon at ABC News: Todd Donovan has been named VP of News Technology; Chris Myers is named executive director for Newsgathering Operations; and Renu Thomas is the new executive director of News Program Operations.

Donovan will work with ABC News' management to identify and acquire new technologies and integrate them across all ABC News platforms. Myers will be responsible for operations and logistics for ABC's newsgathering efforts while Thomas will direct technical and operational resources across the broadcasts.

Two of the execs are from inside ABC, one is not. More on that after the jump in the email from ABC News president David Westin...

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Former co-anchor of CBS' The Early Show, Rene Syler, will join Parents TV, a service of Meredith Corporation, the publisher of such magazines as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies' Home Journal. Syler, author of "Good-Enough Mother" will host the channel's first long-form show starting next month. Says Syler in a press release, "I hope to offer empathy and advice on everything from dealing with annoying Super-Moms to planning cross country trips with two elementary school children in the back seat to making time for mom!"

The "Good Enough Mother" will debut on Comcast VOD, Sprint TV phones, and on parents.tv.

• Earlier on TVNewser: Rene Syler on her departure from CBS: "When I got fired, and yes, I got fired."

Richard Engel was named NBC News' chief foreign correspondent today, effective immediately. Engel previously served as NBC News' senior Middle East correspondent and Beirut bureau chief since May 2006.

Engel has covered the entire war in Iraq since joining NBC News in May 2003. Before coming to the network, he freelanced for ABC News.

Engel recently received the 2008 Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University award and the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism.

• Earlier: "So What Do You Do, Richard Engel?"

Click continued for the release...

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Priya David is joining CBS News as a correspondent primarily for The Early Show and the CBS Evening News weekends.

David has been a general assignment reporter at KTVU-TV in San Francisco since February 2005. Before that, she was a campaign embed for MSNBC covering Dick Gephardt during his run for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination. Prior to MSNBC, David was part of the News Associate Program at NBC with contributions to Nightly News and as a general assignment reporter for NBC's then-owned WVTM in Birmingham.

Born in Chennai, India, David grew up in Virginia, California, Brussels and London. Her father was with an American company that worked with NATO.

CNN's Baghdad bureau chief and producer, Cal Perry, has been appointed as the network's new international correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon.

Perry will cover Lebanon as well as other Middle East locations like Baghdad, Dubai and Jerusalem.

As Baghdad bureau chief, Perry produced the long-form piece CNN Presents: Combat Hospital, which won a CINE award in 2007.

Click continued for the release...

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Byron Harmon joins CNN International in the newly created position of senior executive producer. Based in Atlanta, Harmon will coordinate the live news programming and breaking news coverage of CNN International.

Harmon previously served as executive producer at WCBS Channel 2 in New York.

Click continued for the release...

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Just days after becoming a mom (again) ABC's Cathie Levine got some more good news today. She was promoted to VP of Communications for the news division. She continues to report to senior VP Jeffrey Schneider.

Levine joined ABC News in 2001 as the publicist for World News Tonight. In December 2005, she was promoted to Executive Director of Media Relations for the division.

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