Tom Gjelten
Tom Gjelten reports on religion, faith, and belief for NPR News, a beat that encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world.
In 1986, Gjelten became one of NPR's pioneer foreign correspondents, posted first in Latin America and then in Central Europe. Over the next decade, he covered social and political strife in Central and South America, the first Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
His reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994 was the basis for his book Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege (HarperCollins), praised by the New York Times as "a chilling portrayal of a city's slow murder." He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent's View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton).
After returning from his overseas assignments, Gjelten covered U.S. diplomacy and military affairs, first from the State Department and then from the Pentagon. He was reporting live from the Pentagon at the moment it was hit on September 11, 2001, and he was NPR's lead Pentagon reporter during the early war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Gjelten has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years. His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a "Notable Nonfiction Book," and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their "Best Books of 2008." His latest book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story (Simon & Schuster), published in 2015, recounts the impact on America of the 1965 Immigration Act, which officially opened the country's doors to immigrants of color. He has also contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other outlets.
Since joining NPR in 1982 as labor and education reporter, Gjelten has won numerous awards for his work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and freelance writer.
-
Intelligence officials Thursday showed members of Congress videotape and other evidence to support their case that Syria was building a nuclear reactor with help from North Korea. The site was bombed by Israeli planes last year.
-
Cuba's President Fidel Castro has resigned, saying he will not seek re-election after 49 years in power. NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten discusses the 81-year-old's reign as the world's longest ruling head of state, and the significance of his resignation.
-
On Capitol Hill, Senators grilled the head of the CIA about interrogation techniques and the destruction of interrogation videotapes. Michael Hayden announced last week that two tapes showing tough interrogations were destroyed in 2005.
-
CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies today before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the videotaping of the agency's interrogations of detainees. Those tapes were subsequently destroyed, and members of Congress from both parties hope to use the closed door session to find out why.
-
Senators want to know why the CIA videotaped the interrogation of terrorism suspects — and whether the CIA was trying to hide harsh methods of interrogation when it destroyed the tapes. CIA director Michael Hayden is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
-
Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr tells the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that even though Iran froze weapons development in 2003, the country still retains key nuclear capabilities and also likely still wants the ability to make nuclear weapons.
-
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz agreed to leave his post next month, marking the first time in the bank's history that its president has had to resign. Wolfowitz, a former Bush administration official, had been under intense pressure to leave due to allegations that he arranged a promotion and generous pay raise for his girlfriend.
-
Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has resigned, in a move that will take effect in June. Until then, he is on administrative leave. Pressure on Wolfowitz to step down has grown since the release of a report on his handling of a 2005 pay raise for his girlfriend — also a bank employee. -
Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is set to appear before the World Bank board behind closed doors. This week, the bank is due to give its final decision on whether Wolfowitz should remain as bank president. The question at hand is whether Wolfowitz violated rules by arranging a pay raise for his bank-employed girlfriend.
-
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is likely to find out Tuesday if he will keep his job. He meets with the bank's board of directors on the heels of a blistering report by a bank investigating committee, which found that Wolfowitz broke bank rules in arranging a pay raise for his girlfriend.
