Tom Gjelten, reports on defense policy, military affairs, terrorism, espionage, and other national security issues for NPR. From 1986 to 1990, Gjelten was NPR’s Latin America correspondent, covering wars as well as political and social issues. From 1990 to 1994, he was based in Berlin as NPR’s correspondent for Eastern and Central Europe.
Gjelten covered the war in the Persian Gulf, transition to democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe, and the breakup of the Soviet Union. From 1991 to 1994 he was assigned to the former Yugoslavia, where he covered the Serb-Croat conflict in Croatia and the war in Bosnia. Reporting from Sarajevo provided the basis for his book, Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege.
Since 1994, he has been based in Washington, DC.
Since joining NPR in 1982, Gjelten has won many awards including the Overseas Press Club award for Best Business or Economic Reporting and the Lowell Thomas Award for coverage of the Yugoslav conflict, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He appears on the PBS “Washington Week in Review” and has written for The New Republic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Gjelten is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Antioch Graduate School in Keene, NH.
