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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The U.S. military spent years training Afghan soldiers to fight insurgents. Yet in a matter of days, the Afghan National Army collapsed, and the Taliban captured the country. What went wrong? -
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an update on the efforts of U.S. forces to evacuate thousands from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
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Officials say evacuation flights have resumed at the Kabul airport after chaos on Monday. But it's unclear if the thousands of Afghans who worked with U.S. forces can get out by the Aug. 31 deadline.
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The departure of American forces from Afghanistan was forecast to renew violence there, but few expected the Afghan government to fall so quickly. Now the blame game has begun in Washington.
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The Biden administration faced mounting pressure to relocate about 18,000 Afghans who helped with U.S. military operations, along with their families. Many fear a resurgent Taliban will seek revenge. -
U.S. military officials say the withdrawal from Afghanistan is nearly complete. At the same time, a spat has broken out about how U.S. forces withdrew from the last big base.
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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.
