Greg Myre Greg Myre is a national security correspondent with a focus on counter-terrorism.
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Greg Myre

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Greg Myre 2016
Barry Morgenstein/NPR

Greg Myre

National Security Correspondent

Greg Myre is a national security correspondent with a focus on the intelligence community, a position that follows his many years as a foreign correspondent covering conflicts around the globe.

He was previously the international editor for NPR.org, working closely with NPR correspondents abroad and national security reporters in Washington. He remains a frequent contributor to the NPR website on global affairs. He also worked as a senior editor at Morning Edition from 2008-2011.

Before joining NPR, Myre was a foreign correspondent for 20 years with The New York Times and The Associated Press.

He was first posted to South Africa in 1987, where he witnessed Nelson Mandela's release from prison and reported on the final years of apartheid. He was assigned to Pakistan in 1993 and often traveled to war-torn Afghanistan. He was one of the first reporters to interview members of an obscure new group calling itself the Taliban.

Myre was also posted to Cyprus and worked throughout the Middle East, including extended trips to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. He went to Moscow from 1996-1999, covering the early days of Vladimir Putin as Russia's leader.

He was based in Jerusalem from 2000-2007, reporting on the heaviest fighting ever between Israelis and the Palestinians.

In his years abroad, he traveled to more than 50 countries and reported on a dozen wars. He and his journalist wife Jennifer Griffin co-wrote a 2011 book on their time in Jerusalem, entitled, This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Myre is a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington and has appeared as an analyst on CNN, PBS, BBC, C-SPAN, Fox, Al Jazeera and other networks. He's a graduate of Yale University, where he played football and basketball.

Story Archive

In 1986, South African activist, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu receives the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize for his commitment and role during the struggle against apartheid, from Coretta Scott King (left), her daughter Christine King Farris (rear) and Tutu's daughter Nontombi Naomi Tutu. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev closes his resignation speech after delivering it at the Kremlin in Moscow on Dec. 25, 1991. After 74 years, the Soviet Union was dissolved, breaking into 15 countries. But there's often been friction among the former Soviet republics, including the current confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. Liu Heung Shing/AP hide caption

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Liu Heung Shing/AP

How the Soviet Union's collapse explains the current Russia-Ukraine tension

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with President Biden about the tensions over Ukraine via a videoconference on Dec. 7. Russia has massed some 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. As Russia's leader, Putin has sent Russian forces on multiple combat missions, including a 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Mikhail Metzel/AP hide caption

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Mikhail Metzel/AP

In times of crisis — or to create one — Russia's Putin turns to his military

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Former President Donald Trump spoke at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on his first full day in office, Jan. 21, 2017. But he had difficult relations with the intelligence community throughout his presidency. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption

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Andrew Harnik/AP

It's no secret: A CIA book looks at fraught relations with Trump

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After reviewing the CIA's priorities, Director William Burns recently announced the establishment of a China Mission Center at the spy agency. U.S. intelligence officials, current and former, recently spoke at a conference about the challenges posed by China's large spying operation directed at the U.S. Ian Morton/NPR hide caption

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Ian Morton/NPR

As U.S. spies look to the future, one target stands out: China

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Encore: Havana Syndrome remains a mystery as researchers study microwave beam theory

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Russian demonstrators hold anti-American posters outside the U.S. Embassy in 2015. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the U.S. said the Soviet Union beamed microwave signals at the U.S. Embassy in an attempt to collect intelligence. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption

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Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Long before Havana Syndrome, the U.S. reported microwaves beamed at an embassy

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In this 2011 photo, then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden walks with then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in southwestern China. Both are now presidents of their countries at a time when U.S.-China relations have been growing increasingly tense. Ng Han Guan/AP hide caption

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Ng Han Guan/AP

Is China a threat or an opportunity? Depends which Americans you ask

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With the China Mission Center, the CIA refocuses on the changing world stage

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President Biden speaks during a Sept. 24 summit at the White House that included (clockwise from left) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yoshihide Suga, Japan's prime minister at the time. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

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Evan Vucci/AP

Long promised and often delayed, the 'pivot to Asia' takes shape under Biden

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CIA Director William Burns has ramped up efforts to determine the cause of "Havana syndrome," a combination of ailments that have afflicted U.S. intelligence officers and diplomats in recent years. A growing number of cases have been reported in Vienna in recent months. Ian Morton/NPR hide caption

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Ian Morton/NPR

President George W. Bush stands in the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York and speaks to workers involved in the cleanup effort on Sept. 14, 2001. Doug Mills/AP hide caption

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Doug Mills/AP

Two Decades After 9/11, Are We Safer?

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These three books provide a detailed accounting of events that have largely defined the U.S. role in the world in the first part of the 21st century. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption

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Emily Bogle/NPR

Afghan families gather after leaving their homeland and reaching the Pakistan side of the border, near the town of Chaman on Tuesday. Pakistan and other countries bordering Afghanistan have mostly closed their borders to Afghan refugees, with some exceptions. AP hide caption

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AP

At-Risk Afghans Urgently Look For A Way Out: 'The Taliban Are Seeking Us'

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