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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The firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper was the beginning of a series of changes to top-level positions at the Pentagon. -
President Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday — replacing him with Christopher C. Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. What does the timing of this mean?
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Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been "terminated," President Trump announced on Twitter on Monday. Esper will be replaced by Christopher C. Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
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Secretary Esper has kept a letter of resignation on hand since the summer, when he and the president disagreed over the use of active duty troops to put down street protests. -
Steps from the White House, where divisions of the past year have played out, crowds are celebrating. So far, the National Guard has not been activated this election.
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Uniformed police are generally not allowed around polling places, and the Pentagon doesn't want to get involved. Still, they're getting ready if things get out of control. -
Uniformed police are generally not allowed around polling places, and the Pentagon doesn't want to get involved. Still, authorities are getting ready if things get out of control.
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Last week the president tweeted that troops should be home from Afghanistan by Christmas. In an interview with NPR, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said no final decisions have been made. -
The military's Commander in Chief, President Donald Trump, is in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. So what does that mean for the military operations?
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In a letter addressed to "Our Fellow Citizens," the 489 signees, which include 22 four-star officers, state the "current president" is not up to "the enormous responsibilities of his office."
