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.
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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.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan gave closed briefings on Tuesday to the full House and Senate on the situation with Iran.
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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.
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President Trump will nominate acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to the permanent role. Shanahan has spent much of his life working at Boeing before joining the Trump administration in 2017.
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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. -
Boeing is struggling with its commercial airline business, but how will that impact its defense work? Some analysts say Boeing always depended on commercial work to help bid for long-term defense work.
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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.
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The Pentagon's anonymous survey of sexual assault in the military shows a sharp increase. It's unclear whether this is due to more reporting or more instances of assault.
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Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has been cleared by the Pentagon's inspector general of advocating for his former employer, Boeing. This clears the way for Shanahan's likely nomination.
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Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan appeared before the House Armed Services Committee for the first time following Democrats taking control of the House.
