Tom Ricks

Thomas Ricks is an award-winning journalist and author specializing in military and national security issues. Tom is a contributing editor of Foreign Policy magazine, where he writes the blog "The Best Defense," which was named the best blog of the year by the American Society of Magazine Editors in 2010, as well as the best military blog by Military Reporters & Editors. A member of two Pulitzer Prize–winning teams, he has been called “the dean of military correspondents,” covering US military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Tom is a former ASU Future of War Senior Fellow for a Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and adviser on national security at New America, where he participated in its "Future of War" project. He covered the Pentagon and U.S. military for the Washington Post, and was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years. He also has written on defense matters for the Atlantic Monthly and other publications. He is the author of multiple bestselling books, including First Principles, The Generals, and Fiasco, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.