Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow
'As global power dynamics are being profoundly reshaped, Nick's work has never been more essential. The Intercept has always questioned mainstream coverage about American military power, and there is no one better than Nick to provide the kind of nuanced, incisive coverage that our readers want and deserve right now,' said CEO Annie Chabel.
'Nick is a thoughtful, thorough, and curious journalist with deep expertise reporting on U.S. military and national security,' said editor-in-chief Ben Muessig. 'I look forward to working with him more closely in 2025.'
Turse, who is also a fellow at Type Media Center, has written for The Intercept for a decade, publishing more than 150 articles. He was part of the award-winning team that produced 'The Drone Papers,' a cache of secret documents detailing the inner workings of the U.S. military's assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. He received the 2022 Military Reporters & Editors Association Award for Best Overseas Coverage for 'The AFRICOM Files,' which revealed how the Pentagon undercounts and ignores military sexual assault in Africa. In 2023, The Intercept published a searing four-article exposé about former U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger's direct role in U.S. attacks on Cambodian villages in the 1970s that were previously unknown to the outside world, based on decades of reporting by Turse, who was the first person to interview victims and survivors in 13 villages that suffered relentless attacks. He received the 2024 Deadline Club Award for Reporting by Independent Digital Media for 'Kissinger's Killing Fields.'
In 2023 and 2024, Turse reported that a 2018 U.S. drone strike in Somalia killed up to five civilians, including a mother and her 4-year-old daughter, and that the Pentagon found no one at fault. Following Turse's investigation, two dozen human rights organizations and several members of Congress urged then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to compensate the family for the deaths. Turse is a finalist for the 2025 Fetisov Journalism Award for Outstanding Contribution to Peace for this article and several follow-up pieces published this year.
'I am thrilled to be joining The Intercept in this expanded role. Watchdog journalism is more necessary than ever and I can't think of an outlet more committed to holding power to account,' said Turse. 'I'm excited to get started.'
Turse has received a number of honors for his work including a Ridenhour Prize for Investigative Reporting, a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, and an I.F. Stone 'Izzy' Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Journalism. He is a two-time finalist for the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting. He has a Ph.D. in sociomedical sciences from Columbia University.
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