Jeff Stein (author)
Encyclopedia
Jeff Stein is the SpyTalk columnist and blogger at the Washington Post. Previously, he was the SpyTalk columnist and National Security Editor for Congressional Quarterly
's website, CQ Politics, from 2002-2009. He specializes in U.S. intelligence, military, and foreign policy issues. In addition to his work for CQ, he has written three books and authored hundreds of news articles, opinion pieces and book reviews. He also has made numerous television and radio appearances.
, moving with his family to Maine
in 1954. After attending school in Providence, Rhode Island
, he moved to Hingham, Massachusetts
, where he graduated from high school in 1962. Following high school, he attended Boston University
, earning a bachelor's degree
in American History. Stein then attended the University of California, Berkeley
for a master's degree
in China Studies. He entered the U.S. Army in 1968 and served with U.S. Army Intelligence
as a case officer from 1968 to 1969. While stationed in Vietnam
, he was awarded a Bronze Star.
Stein began his journalism career at a suburban Washington, D.C.
weekly. He reported for NPR
, during its early years, while freelancing for major newspapers and magazines. In 1981, he briefly edited the Washington City Paper
before founding his own paper, The Washington Weekly, which folded in 1984, after a year of publication. He then joined UPI, rising to deputy foreign editor. During this period he also wrote his first book, The Vietnam Factbook, published in 1987. In 1992, Stein followed up with A Murder in Wartime, a book which detailed a Green Beret murder case that occurred during the Vietnam War. Time Magazine lauded the book, calling it "...the best military morality tale since The Caine Mutiny
... an exhaustively researched and heavily documented history of the Green Beret murder case."
In the 1990s, Stein began writing for Salon.com
eventually becoming a national security correspondent and breaking one of its biggest stories, an expose of secret ties between the Ringling Bros. Circus
and a former CIA official, Clair George
. In 2000, Stein teamed with Khidhir Hamza, a scientist who worked on Saddam Hussein
's nuclear program before defecting in 1994, to write Saddam's Bombmaker. The book garnered widespread and enthusiastic reviews, including one from former chief of the National Security Agency
, Gen. William E. Odom, who, in the Washington Post called it, "Not only stranger but frequently bloodier than fiction. The book should attract a wide range of readers, from foreign policy and security specialists to bored airplane passengers looking for a thriller." In 2002, Congressional Quarterly
hired Stein to launch and edit CQ/Homeland Security which was nominated for an award in its first year of existence.
In 2005, Stein began writing a weekly column for CQ, entitled "SpyTalk", which evolved into a daily blog
featuring original reporting and regular exclusives. In October 2006, Stein sparked an uproar when he reported in the New York Times that many top counter-terrorism officials and members of the House Intelligence Committee
did not know the difference between Sunnis
and Shiites. Two months later in his column, Stein got the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to reveal the he knew little about Al Qaeda and the Middle East
. In April 2009, Stein, writing for CQ Politics, broke the story that Representative
Jane Harman
had been wiretapped discussing aid for AIPAC defendants. The scandal brought additional attention to the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
and implicated a number of other figures.
In addition to his SpyTalk work, Stein continues to write Op-Ed pieces and book reviews for The New York Times and Washington Post. Through the years, he has also written for a wide range of other publications, including Esquire
, Vanity Fair
, GQ, Playboy
, The New Republic
, The Nation
, and the Christian Science Monitor. He also appears on CBS
, CNN
, MSNBC
, NPR
, and BBC
, among others, to comment on U.S. national security issues.
farmhouse. He is a member of both the Association of Former Intelligence Officers
and Investigative Reporters and Editors
.
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
's website, CQ Politics, from 2002-2009. He specializes in U.S. intelligence, military, and foreign policy issues. In addition to his work for CQ, he has written three books and authored hundreds of news articles, opinion pieces and book reviews. He also has made numerous television and radio appearances.
Biography
Stein was born in Philadelphia but grew up in New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, moving with his family to Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
in 1954. After attending school in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, he moved to Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...
, where he graduated from high school in 1962. Following high school, he attended Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, earning a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in American History. Stein then attended the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
for a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in China Studies. He entered the U.S. Army in 1968 and served with U.S. Army Intelligence
United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for U.S. Army commanders and national decision makers. INSCOM is both an organization within the United States Army and the National Security Agency,...
as a case officer from 1968 to 1969. While stationed in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, he was awarded a Bronze Star.
Stein began his journalism career at a suburban Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
weekly. He reported for NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, during its early years, while freelancing for major newspapers and magazines. In 1981, he briefly edited the Washington City Paper
Washington City Paper
The Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
before founding his own paper, The Washington Weekly, which folded in 1984, after a year of publication. He then joined UPI, rising to deputy foreign editor. During this period he also wrote his first book, The Vietnam Factbook, published in 1987. In 1992, Stein followed up with A Murder in Wartime, a book which detailed a Green Beret murder case that occurred during the Vietnam War. Time Magazine lauded the book, calling it "...the best military morality tale since The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny is a 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II and deals with, among other things, the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by the captains of ships...
... an exhaustively researched and heavily documented history of the Green Beret murder case."
In the 1990s, Stein began writing for Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
eventually becoming a national security correspondent and breaking one of its biggest stories, an expose of secret ties between the Ringling Bros. Circus
Kenneth Feld
Kenneth Jeffrey Feld is the CEO of , which owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice!, and He is also the producer of several Broadway plays. The business was started by his father Irvin Feld and Ken became CEO upon his father's death in 1984. He has three daughters, two...
and a former CIA official, Clair George
Clair George
Clair Elroy George was a widely respected veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine service who oversaw all global espionage activities for the agency in the mid-1980s...
. In 2000, Stein teamed with Khidhir Hamza, a scientist who worked on Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's nuclear program before defecting in 1994, to write Saddam's Bombmaker. The book garnered widespread and enthusiastic reviews, including one from former chief of the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
, Gen. William E. Odom, who, in the Washington Post called it, "Not only stranger but frequently bloodier than fiction. The book should attract a wide range of readers, from foreign policy and security specialists to bored airplane passengers looking for a thriller." In 2002, Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
hired Stein to launch and edit CQ/Homeland Security which was nominated for an award in its first year of existence.
In 2005, Stein began writing a weekly column for CQ, entitled "SpyTalk", which evolved into a daily blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
featuring original reporting and regular exclusives. In October 2006, Stein sparked an uproar when he reported in the New York Times that many top counter-terrorism officials and members of the House Intelligence Committee
United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Mike Rogers. It is the primary committee in the U.S...
did not know the difference between Sunnis
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
and Shiites. Two months later in his column, Stein got the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to reveal the he knew little about Al Qaeda and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. In April 2009, Stein, writing for CQ Politics, broke the story that Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Jane Harman
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
had been wiretapped discussing aid for AIPAC defendants. The scandal brought additional attention to the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States during the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency as part of the war on terror...
and implicated a number of other figures.
In addition to his SpyTalk work, Stein continues to write Op-Ed pieces and book reviews for The New York Times and Washington Post. Through the years, he has also written for a wide range of other publications, including Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, GQ, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, and the Christian Science Monitor. He also appears on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, among others, to comment on U.S. national security issues.
Personal life
Stein resides in Northwest Washington, DC in a restored Victorian eraVictorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
farmhouse. He is a member of both the Association of Former Intelligence Officers
Association of Former Intelligence Officers
The Association of Former Intelligence Officers , formerly known as the Association of Retired Intelligence Officers is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization founded in 1975 by David Atlee Phillips to counter widespread criticism of the United States intelligence community coming from...
and Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the quality of investigative reporting. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training classes for journalists. Its headquarters is in Columbia, Missouri, at the University of...
.
Books
- Saddam's Bombmaker:The Daring Escape of the Man Who Built Iraq's Secret Weapon — 2000 (with Khidhir Hamza) ISBN 0743211359
- A Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War — 1992 ISBN 0312929196
- The Vietnam Factbook — 1987 ISBN 0440193362
Selected Articles
- (2009) Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Discussing Aid for AIPAC Defendants CQ SpyTalk
- (2007) FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here CQ Spytalk
- (2006) Democrats' New Intelligence Chairman Needs a Crash Course on al Qaeda CQ SpyTalk
- (2006) Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite? New York Times
- (2001) The Greatest Vendetta on Earth: Why would the head of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey hire a former top CIA honcho to torment a hapless freelance writer for eight years? Salon