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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As U.S.-led forces continue their search for biological and chemical weapons in Iraq, Congress and the British Parliament consider launching investigations into whether intelligence findings about possible illegal weapons in Iraq were exaggerated to justify going to war. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.
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The Pentagon expands its approach to searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with help from U.S. allies. A senior U.S. military commander in Iraq says the intelligence his forces received on Iraqi arms prior to the war was "wrong." Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten, NPR's Michele Norris and former CIA analyst Larry Johnson.
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The Pentagon says security in Iraq is improving, despite this week's attacks on U.S. troops that left four soldiers dead. But defense officials say U.S. commanders are concerned the small-scale attacks on U.S. forces could grow and are investigating whether the incidents could be an early indication of guerrilla activity. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.
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CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency officials say two mobile labs found in northern Iraq are evidence that Saddam Hussein once had a biological weapons program. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggests that Iraq may have destroyed its stockpile prior to the U.S.-led invasion. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
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U.S. forces take into custody one of Iraq's top biological weapons experts, nicknamed "Dr. Germ" for her work in the production of biological warfare agents such as anthrax and botulinum toxin. Rihab Taha, a British-educated microbiologist, was not on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, but U.S. officials say her capture was still a top priority. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.
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U.S. forces in Iraq capture a senior biological weapons scientist, known as "Mrs. Anthrax" and the only woman on the U.S. military list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. A U.S.-trained microbiologist, Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash is believed to have played a key role in rebuilding Iraq's biological weapons program after the 1991 Gulf War. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.
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An important Iraqi intelligence official is in U.S. custody. Farouk Hijazi was accused of planning a plot to assassinate the first President Bush in the early 1990s. A Pentagon official says Hijazi met with Osama bin Laden in 1996. Defense officials hope his capture will produce valuable new information. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
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The war in Iraq now is a month old, and U.S.-led forces continue searching for weapons of mass destruction. But so far, no smoking gun. Military officials say they're confident evidence of such weapons will be found, but admit feeling pressured to produce results. From the Pentagon, NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
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Initial efforts at forming a post-Saddam Hussein government in Iraq end with an agreement to meet again in 10 days. About 100 representatives of Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities met with retired U.S. Army Gen. Jay Garner, who has been selected by the Bush administration to oversee the re-establishment of an Iraqi state. Hear NPR's Mike Shuster and NPR's Tom Gjelten.
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Many Iraqis are deeply concerned about the breakdown of law and order since Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed. There's been widespread looting in several cities. As the occupying power, the United States is responsible for restoring security in Iraq, but American forces so far have been reluctant to fulfill that responsibility. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports from the Pentagon.