After 5 years and more than 4,500 posts, I’m departing Threat Level to take the position of News Editor at Wired.com, overseeing all the blogs and directing Wired.com’s news and feature reporting.

The first and most challenging decision in my new gig is picking a successor to take the reins here. Threat Level has been my home for a long time. This is Wired.com’s oldest news blog – we now have over 10 — and I’ve had the privilege of working with top-flight peers to bring you award-winning coverage of privacy, crime and cybersecurity.

Fortunately, I found the answer sitting at the desk opposite mine, yakking on the phone with some corporate mucky muck at a dot-com somewhere. Reporter Ryan Singel (that’s his picture) co-founded Threat Level with me in 2006, and led Wired.com’s coverage of post-9/11 electronic privacy issues before jumping to the business beat at Epicenter. Starting today, he’s back, now as editor, and ready to resume scaring peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty (Remember that?).

Welcome, Ryan!