Tom Gjelten
Tom Gjelten reports on religion, faith, and belief for NPR News, a beat that encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world.
In 1986, Gjelten became one of NPR's pioneer foreign correspondents, posted first in Latin America and then in Central Europe. Over the next decade, he covered social and political strife in Central and South America, the first Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
His reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994 was the basis for his book Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege (HarperCollins), praised by the New York Times as "a chilling portrayal of a city's slow murder." He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent's View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton).
After returning from his overseas assignments, Gjelten covered U.S. diplomacy and military affairs, first from the State Department and then from the Pentagon. He was reporting live from the Pentagon at the moment it was hit on September 11, 2001, and he was NPR's lead Pentagon reporter during the early war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Gjelten has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years. His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a "Notable Nonfiction Book," and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their "Best Books of 2008." His latest book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story (Simon & Schuster), published in 2015, recounts the impact on America of the 1965 Immigration Act, which officially opened the country's doors to immigrants of color. He has also contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other outlets.
Since joining NPR in 1982 as labor and education reporter, Gjelten has won numerous awards for his work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and freelance writer.
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Jan. 1, 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Led by a young Fidel Castro, the revolution wrenched power from the American-backed Batista regime. Today, Cuba remains the only communist nation in the Western hemisphere, making Castro one of the most polarizing figures of modern times. NPR's Tom Gjelten, who spent decades reporting on Cuba, takes a look back.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has apparently suffered a stroke, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Kim didn't appear Tuesday at a military parade in Pyongyang on the 60th anniversary of North Korea's founding.
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Hurricane Gustav pummeled Cuba last week before the storm made landfall in the U.S. Now, Hurricane Ike is sweeping across the island, days after Cuba rejected storm aid from the U.S. Michael Voss, a Cuba-based journalist for the BBC, and NPR's Tom Gjelten, offer an update on Cuba and the political implications of the storm.
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In Serbia, one of the world's most wanted war criminals was arrested Monday. Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of Serb nationalist forces in Bosnia, was captured in a raid. He had been a fugitive since his indictment on war crimes charges more than a decade ago.
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Videotape of the interrogation of Guntanamo detainee Omar Khadr has been released by his lawyers. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was 16 at the time he was questioned in 2003. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a hand grenade in 2002.
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Intelligence agencies are debating the effects of climate change on national security. A classified assessment delivered to Congress concludes that rising global temperatures would indirectly present a security threat to the United States.
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Two top intelligence officials have testified in Congress about the implications of climate change for U.S. national security. They discussed an assessment that identifies parts of the world where climate change could produce political instability.
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U.S. intelligence agencies have produced a classified assessment of the implications of climate change for U.S. national security. The National Intelligence Assessment has been delivered to Congress and will be the subject of a hearing later this week.
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Intelligence officials Thursday showed members of Congress videotape and other evidence to support their case that Syria was building a nuclear reactor with help from North Korea. The site was bombed by Israeli planes last year.
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Cuba's President Fidel Castro has resigned, saying he will not seek re-election after 49 years in power. NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten discusses the 81-year-old's reign as the world's longest ruling head of state, and the significance of his resignation.