Jeremy Scahill is an independent investigative reporter who has twice received the George Polk Award for journalistic achievements.
His best-selling book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, was published in March 2007. The New York Times called it “a crackling exposé.” The book chronicled the ascent of Blackwater USA, now called Xe Services, which at one time was the United States’ go-to provider of private military services in Iraq and Afghanistan. Scahill’s work exposed killings and human rights violations allegedly committed by Blackwater security personnel and uncovered the U.S. government’s growing reliance on this “shadow army.” His reporting and Congressional testimony helped advance legislation that would ban U.S. government security contracts with private military companies.
In 2009, Scahill was awarded the Izzy Award for Independent Media, named after maverick journalist I. F. Stone and, in 2010 he won two Project Censored Awards for his work on covert military operations.
In 1998, Scahill and Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman traveled to Nigeria, where they co-produced their award-winning radio documentary, Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship, which investigated the Chevron Corporation’s role in the killing of two Nigerian environmental activists. Also while a correspondent for Democracy Now! Scahill reported extensively from Iraq through both the Clinton and Bush administrations.
His reporting in the hurricane zone in the wake of Katrina exposed the presence of Blackwater forces in New Orleans.
Scahill writes for The Nation and is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. He is also a correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!.
