Josh Meyer - Journalist Profile | Connect with top journalists

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Biography

Josh Meyer left the Los Angeles Times in 2010 to help launch the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative in Washington, D.C., which aims to find the best ways to do, and to teach, the all-important kinds of security journalism in this changing media environment——especially across all digital platforms. Its subjects include terrorism, war, nuclear proliferation, counternarcotics, organized crime, corruption, black markets and trafficking, and intelligence and law enforcement reform. He is also a correspondent for Quartz, the new Atlantic Media online publication, writing on those topics and broader global security and business issues. And he is the co-author of the recently published book, The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of The Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,’’ which the New York Times hailed as an Editors’ Choice work of major significance. The Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews both listed it as one of the top non-fiction books of 2012. Meyer is on the board of directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the oldest and largest professional association of investigative reporters, with more than 4,000 members around the world. He is a longtime member and conference speaker of IRE, which is dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting globally. Meyer is also a screenwriter, who created, wrote and executive produced the network TV crime thriller showLevel 9’’ in 2000 with mystery novelist Michael Connelly. He consults on documentary films, and was a producer on Morgan Spurlock’s 2008 documentary, Where In The World Is Osama bin Laden.’’ Meyer is also a frequent speaker on national security and investigative reporting issues, and a regular guest on NPR, BBC, PBS, CNN and other major network TV and radio outlets. He is also frequently invited by intelligence, law enforcement and military agencies to talk about issues of national security and terrorism. He is a founding member of, and lead guitarist and vocalist in, the journo-rock band Suspicious Package, which plays regularly in the Washington area and won first place in the Journopalooza battle of the bands in 2011. At Medill, Meyer is director, education and outreach, for the National Security Journalism Initiative, and also the McCormick Lecturer in National Security Studies. He also leads the Medill National Security Reporting Project, an annual three-month undertaking in which 10 post-graduate students investigate a topic of current national security interest and build an innovative multimedia/interactive project in collaboration with professional news organizations like The Washington Post and McClatchy News Service. Meyer also continues to work as a national security journalist, writing for Reuters, Der Spiegel, The Boston Globe, Salon and other media organizations, as well as writing books. At the Times, Meyer was a staff writer for 20 years, the last nine as its chief terrorism/national security reporter in Washington. He won or shared in numerous local, state and national awards at the paper, including two Pulitzer Prizes, and an Overseas Press Club award for his investigative reporting before 9/11 on Al Qaeda’s efforts to establish a covert U.S. presence and to launch attacks on U.S. soil. Before moving to Washington in 2001, he covered police, politics and government and worked on project teams for the newspaper. His work resulted in significant changes and reforms at the local, state and federal levels, numerous corruption investigations and at least three criminal convictions. TheHunt For KSM’’ book, published in March 2012 by Little, Brown & Company, focuses on how FBI and CIA agents identified Mohammed as a threat way back in 1994 but missed numerous opportunities to catch him in the years before the most devastating terrorist attacks in history. It has received numerous excellent reviews, and was described by Publishers Weekly as "one of the most revealing dispatches yet from the war on terror." The New York Times praised Meyer and co-author Terry McDermott for having ``reconstructed an almost decade-long clandestine manhunt in exacting detail, an undeniably impressive feat of sleuthing. Narrative velocity is not a problem either; from beginning to end, “The Hunt for KSM” moves along at the brisk pace of a good crime novel.’’ Meyer is also active in other investigative reporting and journalism organizations, and a member of 100Reporters, which joins professional reporters with whistle-blowers and citizen journalists across the globe to report on corruption in all its forms. He received two Bachelor of Arts degrees with honors from the University of Massachusetts in 1987, one in Social Thought and Political Economy, and the other in Journalism.

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USA Today

USA TODAY is a prominent American daily newspaper and multi-platform news organization, established on September 14, 1982, by Al Neuharth under Gannett Co. Based in McLean, Virginia, its mission is to foster national dialogue through accessible and visually engaging storytelling across print, digital, and broadcast platforms. The flagship print newspaper, launched in 1982, quickly gained popularity, exceeding 1 million copies in circulation by 1983. USA TODAY also offers a robust digital platform, USATODAY.com, which provides continuous updates on news, sports, finance, and lifestyle, along with interactive content and reader engagement features. The organization has successfully expanded into mobile applications, achieving over 18 million downloads, and offers breaking news alerts and specialized newsletters. USA TODAY collaborates with institutions like Harvard School of Public Health and Gallup for national surveys, covering a wide range of topics. With a diverse audience, USA TODAY serves middle-market readers through its print and digital offerings, attracting millions of unique visitors monthly and providing valuable advertising opportunities across its platforms.