Rachel Martin

Rachel Martin is NPR's National Security Correspondent, covering military and intelligence issues. Her work is featured on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Martin has spent most of her career in public radio with a short detour in network television, covering the White House as a correspondent for ABC News.

In 2005, Martin worked as a foreign correspondent for NPR based in Berlin, Germany. During her time in Europe, she covered the London terrorist attacks, the federal elections in Germany, the 2006 World Cup and issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.

Martin has also worked extensively in Afghanistan. She first started reporting from there as a freelancer during the summer of 2003, covering the reconstruction effort in the wake of the U.S. invasion. She returned in the fall of 2004 for several months to cover Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election. She has reported widely on women's issues in Afghanistan, the fledgling political and governance system and the US-NATO fight against the insurgency. She has also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province.

After returning to the United States in August 2006, Martin worked as NPR's religion correspondent. The following year, her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association. As one of NPR's reporters assigned to cover the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, she was on the school's campus within hours of the shooting and on the ground in Blacksburg, Va., covering the investigation and emotional aftermath in the following days. Martin was also part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, based in New York -- a two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.

Rachel started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco, as a producer and reporter. She holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.

 

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3:37am

Sat September 24, 2011
National Security

Defense Leaders Make Their Case Against Budget Cuts

Credit Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images

The congressional super committee has two months to come up with a way to slash more than a trillion dollars from the federal deficit, or risk deeper cuts that would be triggered automatically. Everything is on the table in the debate — including defense spending.

The Pentagon is on a mission to prevent the defense budget from taking the brunt of the cuts, and the threat of losing funding has both the military branches and the defense industry fighting back.

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12:25pm

Thu September 22, 2011
World

U.S. Rebukes Pakistan For Ties To Afghan Militants

Originally published on Thu September 22, 2011 3:15 pm

U.S. military officials have for years talked of links between Pakistan's spy agency and militant groups attacking American targets across the border in Afghanistan.

During a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, the top U.S. military officer said there's proof.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, was blunt. Supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the militant Haqqani network was responsible for attacks that included the one on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul last week, he said.

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10:01pm

Mon September 19, 2011
Around the Nation

'Don't Ask Don't Tell' Is Done; What Now?

Credit Harry Hamburg / AP

"Don't ask, don't tell" is over Tuesday.

The ban against gays serving openly in the military has been repealed. Starting Tuesday, gay service members cannot be discriminated against for their sexual identity. But the policy has affected the lives of thousands of people during the 18 years it was in place. NPR spoke with two of them: one who was discharged from the military under the law eight years ago; the other a gay Marine who has been keeping his sexual identity a secret for 14 years.

The Former Army Soldier

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10:01pm

Sun September 11, 2011
National Security

Leon Panetta: The Battle-Tested Politician

When Leon Panetta was CIA director, he helped lead the effort to find and kill Osama bin Laden.

Now, Panetta may have an even harder job.

He's two months into his tenure as secretary of defense and here's what Panetta has to do: Run two ground wars, keep up the fight against al-Qaida and at the same time figure out how to cut what could end up being a trillion dollars from a Pentagon's budget.

The Laugh

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1:45pm

Tue September 6, 2011
Reflecting On Sept. 11, 2001

An Open Secret: Drone Warfare In Pakistan

Drone warfare is now one of the most fundamental features of the U.S. battle against its enemies. Just don't any anyone in the government to talk about it.

Since 2004, the United States military has fired about 270 missiles into Pakistan since 2004, killing thousands of militants, according to the U.S. government. Dozens of so-called high-value targets have been eliminated, like al-Qaida's No. 2, who was killed in an attack last month.

But since the CIA runs these attacks, they are secret. As a result, no one in the government is supposed to admit they're happening.

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