Tom Bowman
Tom Bowman is a NPR National Desk reporter covering the Pentagon.
In his current role, Bowman has traveled to Syria as well as Iraq and Afghanistan often for month-long visits and embedded with U.S. Marines and soldiers.
Before coming to NPR in April 2006, Bowman spent nine years as a Pentagon reporter at The Baltimore Sun. Altogether he was at The Sun for nearly two decades, covering the Maryland Statehouse, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the National Security Agency (NSA). His coverage of racial and gender discrimination at NSA led to a Pentagon investigation in 1994.
Initially Bowman imagined his career path would take him into academia as a history, government, or journalism professor. During college Bowman worked as a stringer at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. He also worked for the Daily Transcript in Dedham, Mass., and then as a reporter at States News Service, writing for the Miami Herald and the Anniston (Ala.) Star.
Bowman is a co-winner of a 2006 National Headliners' Award for stories on the lack of advanced tourniquets for U.S. troops in Iraq. In 2010, he received an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of a Taliban roadside bomb attack on an Army unit.
Bowman earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vermont, and a master's degree in American Studies from Boston College.
-
More than two dozen ex-Turkish military officers are in the U.S. seeking asylum — afraid they'll be jailed if they return home. They say they were falsely accused of taking part in a 2016 coup.
-
A debate has been playing out in the Trump administration and with its European allies over whether the threat posed by Iran has changed. Trump has said he doesn't want a military conflict with Iran.
-
Shanahan has served as acting defense secretary since former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned last December over President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.
-
National Security Adviser John Bolton announced Sunday the U.S. is sending USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and land-based bombers to the Middle East in response to unspecified developments in Iran.
-
The White House announced on Friday that the ISIS territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria.
-
An internal memo says the embassy has grown to an "extraordinary footprint" and it is time to "ensure our Embassy is right-sized for the long-term."
-
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is in Afghanistan, behaving not at all like a temporary official. He is putting his own senior staff in place and appears ready to serve for the foreseeable future.
-
Orders were signed for an additional 3,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Pentagon is fulfilling a Department of Homeland Security request to assist Customs and Border Protection.
-
ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Syrian city of Manbij that targeted coalition troops. The Pentagon says U.S. service members suffered multiple deaths and injuries.
-
An attack in northern Syria has killed U.S. service members. The Defense Department says they were on a routine patrol. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
-
The Army Corps of Engineers has been asked to identify projects that could be canceled or delayed so that funds could be redirected to build a border wall, congressional and Pentagon sources say.
-
The Department of Homeland Security has asked the Pentagon to provide additional active-duty troops to work on barriers in Arizona and California.