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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Bagram Airfield was the United States' largest base in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has now withdrawn and handed control over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force.
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Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has died at the age of 88.
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As security conditions deteriorate, the White House has signaled that it intends to evacuate thousands of Afghan citizens who worked with U.S. forces, and who now fear retribution.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers he supports a major change to the military justice system. It would let independent military lawyers handle cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.
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As American troops withdraw from Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. over the years fear Taliban retaliation, and are eager to get visas to the United States.
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Under an agreement made by the Trump administration, today was supposed to be the deadline for the US to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. But the Biden administration is taking more time.
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The Biden administration plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of this year. The move would bring to a close America's longest war.
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The military nears a deadline for mandatory talks about extremism in the ranks after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the stand downs.
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The U.S. promised to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by May 1 when it signed a deal with the Taliban last year. Now, it looks like it will miss that deadline as peace talks crawl along.
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The U.S. has carried out an airstrike in Syria against an Iranian-backed militia target. The move appears to be in response to a series of rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
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The U.S. and NATO were to decide this week on whether to pull their troops out of Afghanistan at the end of April. But that decision was put on hold as the Biden administration reviews its options.
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The deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 has forced military leadership to confront the threat of domestic extremism. Rioters that day included current and former service members.