Veteran CBS News executive and Washington, D.C. bureau chief Janet Leissner is retiring from CBS News, and Christopher Isham, an award-winning producer and Chief of Investigative Projects for ABC News, will become Washington, D.C. bureau chief, it was announced today by Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports.  Isham's appointment is effective September 4, 2007.

            Janet Leissner has served as Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief, CBS News, since August 1998. In that position, she was responsible for all activity of the Washington, D.C. bureau, including newsgathering, editorial decisions, personnel and technical operations. The bureau is CBS News' largest.

              "Janet's commitment and service to this news organization speaks for itself," said McManus.  "Janet will be retiring, but the integral role she played throughout her career at CBS News will not be forgotten and her list of accomplishments is long.  She has been crucial to the success of the Network's political reporting and coverage, has played a major role in election coverage and has been instrumental in landing many presidential interviews.  We hope that Janet will continue to have a role at CBS News in the future."

            Leissner will be succeeded by Christopher Isham, the Chief of Investigative Projects for ABC News. Isham has built an investigative unit that is widely recognized as one of the most successful of its kind in television news. Under his leadership, the ABC News Investigative Unit has broken hundreds of exclusive reports on a wide range of topics from terrorism to political corruption. 

            "Chris is an extraordinary journalist with a tremendous track record in management and reporting," said McManus. "I'm very much looking forward to working with him and having the benefit of his vast experience and knowledge in Washington, D.C."

             Leissner was a senior producer for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, based in New York (1996-98) and Washington, D.C. (1992-96).  She led CBS News' 1997 Emmy Award-winning coverage of the crash of TWA flight 800, the funeral of Princess Diana, the impeachment of President Clinton, the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and its aftermath. Leissner served as a senior producer for "America Tonight," the CBS News late-night program anchored by Charles Kuralt and Lesley Stahl which was broadcast during the Persian Gulf War (October 1990-July 1991).

            She joined CBS News in 1984 as a Washington-based producer for the CBS EVENING NEWS (1984-90).  Leissner covered the Tiananmen Square uprising and the 1988 presidential campaign of George Bush, among other stories, and produced in-depth reports for "Eye on America." 

             Leissner's career in broadcasting began in 1971 when she joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as an associate producer in its Washington bureau.  She produced CBC coverage of Watergate and, in 1974, moved to Toronto to become public affairs producer for the network.  She became producer of news special events (1976-78) and then covered Canadian politics from CBC's bureau in Ottawa (1978-80).  Leissner was also a field producer for "The Journal," a CBC News magazine (1980-83).  She received an International Emmy Award for producing the documentary, "Henry Ford's America."

             Most recently, Isham served as Chief of Investigative Projects for ABC News.  He has produced programming for all ABC broadcasts and platforms including "World News Tonight," "Nightline," "20/20," "Primetime," "Good Morning America," ABC News Radio and ABCNews.com. Over the past year, the unit built out an investigative site called the "Blotter" on ABCNews.com. The "Blotter" broke the Mark Foley story, among many others.

           Isham and his unit have been recognized with all of the major awards in the broadcast industry including numerous news Emmys, two Columbia DuPont Awards, a Peabody Award, four National Headliners Awards, two Overseas Press Club Awards, the ABA Gavel Award, the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award and three Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) and an Investigative Editors and Reporters Award for online journalism.

           Isham organized the first major network interview with Osama bin Laden in May 1998 and he and his unit broke numerous stories relating to the ongoing threat of international terrorism. His unit also broke stories that have exposed holes in the security of major US ports and airports. Under his direction, the unit also broadcast stories that reported the CIA's interrogation techniques for the first time, insurance fraud after Hurricane Katrina and the secret tapes of Saddam Hussein.  

            Isham joined ABC News as an associate producer in 1978. Before that, Isham worked in the documentary unit at NBC News (1976-78).

            Isham was graduated from Yale College in 1976 and Groton School in 1971. Isham was born in Berlin and has lived in Moscow, Hong Kong, Paris, Haiti and Washington D.C.