Quil Lawrence
Quil Lawrence is a New York-based correspondent for NPR News, covering veterans' issues nationwide. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Award for his coverage of American veterans and a Gracie Award for coverage of female combat veterans. In 2019 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America honored Quil with its IAVA Salutes Award for Leadership in Journalism.
Lawrence started his career in radio by interviewing con men in Tangier, Morocco. He then moved to Bogota, Colombia, and covered Latin America for NPR, the BBC, and The LA Times.
In the Spring of 2000, a Pew Fellowship sponsored his first trips to Iraq — that reporting experience eventually built the foundation for his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Lawrence has reported from throughout the Arab world and from Sudan, Cuba, Pakistan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan for twelve years, serving as NPR's Bureau Chief in Baghdad and Kabul. He covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the second battle of Fallujah in 2004, as well as politics, culture, and war in both countries.
In 2012, Lawrence returned to the U.S. to cover the millions of men and women who have served at war, both recently and in past generations. NPR is possibly unique among major news organizations in dedicating a full-time correspondent to veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive military information last month in two Signal group chats. Now, a U.S. official tells NPR a search is underway to replace Hegseth.
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An NPR investigation helped 15,000 veterans hang on to their homes, but some in Congress want to kill the program that made mortgages more affordable.
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Executive orders from President Trump have agencies across the government scrubbing websites of photos and references to transgender people, women and people of color. -
Some federal agencies, like the Department of Veterans Affairs, are largely exempt from President Trump's hiring freeze. But they're hitting a new roadblock in bringing new staff on. -
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says military recruiting has shot up since the Trump administration's return. In fact, it's been improving for at least a year, with big jumps in female enlistment.
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Trump's nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, answered questions about proposed spending cuts, staff shortages and whether the VA would continue to provide abortions.
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At a hospital in Charlotte, N.C., military doctors serve alongside civilians -- in what some hope will be a model to shore-up both systems.
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U.S. military veterans who support Ukraine worry about political blowback since the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has connections to their movement. -
NPR identified two Trump staffers involved in an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery including a deputy campaign manager, highlighting a disconnect between Trump's messaging and his campaign. -
The statement Thursday comes in response to NPR's reporting on former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington and an altercation his staff had with a cemetery employee.
