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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NPR correspondents recap how funding cuts, layoffs and leadership and policy changes in the second Trump administration are affecting the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself in controversy. He shared details with his wife and brother minutes after being updated on the Yemen strikes by a senior military official.
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A decorated combat vet now faces deportation to his home country of Venezuela. Jose Barcos' story is one of battlefield trauma, bureaucratic bumbling and eventually a serious crime.
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk visited the Pentagon on Friday. Questions about the purpose of the visit ignited a firestorm.
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DOGE says its busy at work at both the Pentagon and the Department of Veteran's Affairs. But at this point, it's not entirely clear what that means.
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The Pentagon announced it will cut its budget by some $50 billion each year for the next five years. But questions remain about where those tens of billions of dollars in savings will come from.
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President Trump and Elon Musk say they want to cut any excessive government spending. That includes sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, even those working in defense and national security.
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The Defense Department is drawing up plans to possibly withdraw troops from Syria, prompting questions about whether the U.S. military will be involved.
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Investigators are trying to understand why an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines regional jet collided in mid-air near Washington, D.C. Sixty-seven people were aboard the two aircraft.
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The Pentagon said that it's revoking the security detail for former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and ordering a review to determine if the retired general's rank should be re-evaluated.