WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Medill National Security Journalism Initiative is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to its Professional Advisory Board. Anne Gearan of The Washington Post, Noah Shachtman of Foreign Policy magazine, and Eileen Sullivan of the Associated Press will join the 14 other distinguished journalists on the board in providing the initiative with oversight and guidance in leading the field of national security journalism education.
“I’m thrilled that these three pioneers in national security journalism have agreed to join our board and share their experience and perspective as we study the best ways to do, and to teach, these important and complicated topics in this changing media environment,’’ said Josh Meyer, director of education and outreach for the National Security Journalism Initiative.
The initiative, part of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, provides journalism students and working journalists with the knowledge and skills necessary to report accurately, completely and with context on events and issues related to defense, security and civil liberties. It is funded by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
“These distinguished journalists will provide important insights into our efforts to improve the ways U.S. journalists cover national security, privacy and civil liberties issues,” said National Security Journalism Initiative Co-Director Tim McNulty.
Anne Gearan is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post. She covers foreign affairs, national security and U.S. security policy and travels extensively with the U.S. secretary of state. Gearan writes frequently about U.S. policy and engagement overseas, with particular emphasis on Syria, Iran, Libya, Russia, North Korea and China. She joined the Post in 2012 after more than 20 years with The Associated Press, including stints as chief diplomatic correspondent, chief Pentagon correspondent and senior foreign affairs specialist on the White House team.
Noah Shachtman is Foreign Policy’s executive editor of news, directing the magazine’s coverage of breaking events in international security, intelligence, and global affairs. A Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, he’s reported from Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, and Russia. He’s written about technology and defense for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Slate, Salon, and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, among others. Previously, Shachtman was a contributing editor at Wired magazine, where he co-founded and edited its national security blog, Danger Room.
Eileen Sullivan covers counterterrorism for The Associated Press. She previously covered the Department of Homeland Security for the AP, and for Congressional Quarterly and Federal Times. In 2012, Sullivan and three other AP reporters won the Pulitzer, Goldsmith and Polk awards for a series of stories that revealed the New York Police Department’s secret programs to spy on Muslims throughout the Northeast since Sept. 11, 2001.
Initiative Co-Director Ellen Shearer, who is Medill’s William F. Thomas Professor, noted that all 14 board members are veteran working journalists with a wealth of experience in covering national security issues. “We have added seminars for working journalists and improved our graduate courses because of insights from these experts,” she said.
For a full list of the NSJI Professional Advisory Board members, please visit http://nationalsecurityzone.medill.northwestern.edu/about-2/advisory-board/.
For more information or questions, please contact Natalie Jones at natalie.jones@northwestern.edu or (202) 661-0107.
