I write about the Defense Department, which consumes the largest portion of discretionary spending in the federal budget, and its activities both in the U.S. and overseas. My stories often focus on armed conflict, and I frequently collaborate with our Visual Investigations team and other colleagues from across the newsroom on topics related to weapons and munitions.
I spent about eight years as a bomb disposal technician in the U.S. Navy, which gave me a fairly thorough education in how weapons used by militaries and insurgents are designed and how they function. Before that, I served as the gunnery officer on a destroyer in the Pacific. I deployed overseas several times and qualified as a deep-sea diving and salvage officer and naval parachutist.
My most formative experience was a deployment to northern Iraq during the 2007 troop surge with a counter-improvised explosive device unit. I became a reporter, in part, to help the public better understand aspects of military operations that the Pentagon does not typically discuss.
I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a history degree in 1999 and earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 2014 thanks to funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
All Times journalists are committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook.
Because of the nature of my beat, I am especially attuned to issues involving confidential sources and handling of sensitive or classified information.
Reporters covering the Pentagon and armed conflict often acquire information that the U.S. government has classified and withheld from the public. Part of our job entails working with editors to decide whether publishing that information is in the public interest. Before we do so, we inform military leaders and invite them to discuss the matter and offer comments for the record.
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A pier operation being assembled by U.S. service members will involve an elaborate process to provide Gazans with just a portion of the aid they need.
By Elena Shao, Mika Gröndahl, Anjali Singhvi and Marco Hernandez
The funds will allow Kyiv to purchase weapons directly from American defense companies.
By John Ismay
With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
By John Ismay, Edward Wong and Pablo Robles
What would $60 billion buy? Lots of air-defense missiles and artillery ammunition, according to the Pentagon.
By John Ismay and Eric Schmitt
This was featured in live coverage.
By John Ismay
The judge did not rule on motions by lawyers for Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who are accused of helping the former president obstruct government efforts to recover classified material.
By Eileen Sullivan
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III made the comments during a hearing that was disrupted several times by protests of U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Hamas.
By John Ismay
Capt. Dan Shultz commanded a team of Navy deep-sea divers who recovered bodies trapped by the collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis in 2007.
By John Ismay
Only seven of the original 1,100 soldiers who carried out psychological operations against the Axis powers are believed to survive.
By John Ismay
As the war approaches its second anniversary, the Russians are beginning to deploy North Korean arms, worsening Ukraine’s troubles while it still awaits new air defenses from the United States.
By David E. Sanger, Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt
