David Welna
David Welna is NPR's national security correspondent.
Having previously covered Congress over a 13-year period starting in 2001, Welna reported extensively on matters related to national security. He covered the debates on Capitol Hill over authorizing the use of military force prior to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the expansion of government surveillance practices arising from Congress' approval of the USA PATRIOT Act. Welna reported on congressional probes into the use of torture by U.S. officials interrogating terrorism suspects. He also traveled with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Afghanistan on the Pentagon chief's first overseas trip in that post.
As a national security correspondent, Welna has continued covering the overseas travel of Pentagon chiefs who've succeeded Hagel. He has also made regular trips to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to provide ongoing coverage of the detention there of alleged "foreign enemy combatants" and the slow-moving prosecution of some of them in an episodically-convened war court. In Washington, he continues to cover national security-related issues being considered by Congress.
In mid-1998, after 16 years of reporting from abroad for NPR, Welna joined NPR's Chicago bureau. During that posting, he reported on a wide range of issues: changes in Midwestern agriculture that threaten the survival of small farms, the personal impact of foreign conflicts and economic crises in the heartland, and efforts to improve public education. His background in Latin America informed his coverage of the saga of Elian Gonzalez both in Miami and in Cuba.
Welna first filed stories for NPR as a freelancer in 1982, based in Buenos Aires. From there, and subsequently from Rio de Janeiro, he covered events throughout South America. In 1995, Welna became the chief of NPR's Mexico bureau.
Additionally, he has reported for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Financial Times, and The Times of London. Welna's photography has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Covering a wide range of stories in Latin America, Welna chronicled the wrenching 1985 trial of Argentina's former military leaders who presided over the disappearance of tens of thousands of suspected dissidents. In Brazil, he visited a town in Sao Paulo state called Americana where former slaveholders from America relocated after the Civil War. Welna covered the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, the mass exodus of Cubans who fled the island on rafts in 1994, the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, and the U.S. intervention in Haiti to restore Jean Bertrand Aristide to Haiti's presidency.
Welna was honored with the 2011 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress, given by the National Press Foundation. In 1995, he was awarded an Overseas Press Club award for his coverage of Haiti. During that same year he was chosen by the Latin American Studies Association to receive their annual award for distinguished coverage of Latin America. Welna was awarded a 1997 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. In 2002, Welna was elected by his colleagues to a two-year term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Congressional Radio-Television Correspondents' Galleries.
A native of Minnesota, Welna graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and distinction in Latin American Studies. He was subsequently a Thomas J. Watson Foundation fellow. He speaks fluent Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
-
Turkey says U.S. officials should not meet with Syrian Democratic Forces chief Mazloum Abdi, whom Ankara considers a terrorist. In Syria, U.S. forces are preparing to protect the eastern oil fields.
-
Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top Russia aide, will testify Monday behind closed doors. She had been in charge of U.S. policy toward Ukraine while at the National Security Council.
-
A new top prosecutor will review 15 dropped corruption investigations involving the owner of a gas firm on whose board Hunter Biden sat. Ruslan Ryaboshapka says he knows of no evidence against Biden.
-
A Pentagon letter sent to four congressional committees in May and obtained by NPR says officials have "certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions" to address corruption.
-
A letter sent to four congressional committees in May and obtained by NPR says officials have "certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions" to address corruption.
-
Military and intelligence officials say it looks like Iran launched the airstrikes but the U.S. has been slow to respond.
-
In the general's upcoming leadership book, Call Sign Chaos, the Obama administration catches the most flak. Mattis barely mentions President Trump but implies criticism of the sitting president.
-
At least five Russians were killed last week in an explosion at a missile test site. It may have involved an experimental nuclear powered missile that Russian President Putin had boasted about.
-
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has stepped down, turning power over to a man named Pedro Pierluisi. This comes after weeks of protests and fallout over leaked chat messages.
-
President Trump said the U.S. will impose more tariffs on products imported from China. Also, Americans who studied in China are being questioned by the FBI and Puerto Rico's governor is resigning.