Eric Westervelt, NPR Biography
Correspondent, Foreign Desk
NPR News Middle East Correspondent Eric Westervelt has reported from many of the world's conflict zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the 2006 war between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel. He's also covered the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and elsewhere, and has reported from Horn of Africa, Yemen and the Persian Gulf region.
Westervelt has covered the war in Iraq from the initial U.S.-led ground invasion, to the ongoing insurgency and sectarian war and the struggle to rebuild the country in the post Saddam Hussein-era.
He played a key role for NPR in covering the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and its aftermath at home and abroad, including the grueling recovery efforts at Ground Zero and the impact on firefighters, survivors, small businesses and others. Later, Westervelt reported from the Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, whose crew and fighter pilots launched the first air strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. He then helped cover the war in Afghanistan.
Westervelt's work reporting in the United States and abroad post-September 11, and his coverage of the war in Iraq, has helped NPR's Foreign Desk win broadcast news' highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Overseas Press Club Award and an Alfred I. DuPont Columbia Journalism School Award. His work with NPR's National Desk also contributed to another Peabody Award for an NPR series on the most influential American musical works of the 20th Century.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Eric traveled with a mechanized infantry unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which led the US Army's attack to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Westervelt's reports are heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and in NPR's hourly newscasts, among other programs.
Prior to his Middle East assignment, Westervelt covered military affairs for NPR News, reporting on a wide range of defense, national security and foreign policy issues. He also reported on U.S. military operations and exercises in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf.
Westervelt previously reported for NPR's National Desk, covering some of the biggest stories of the last decade: the shooting massacre at Columbine High School, the explosion of TWA Flight 800, inner-city riots in Cincinnati and the Florida presidential recount. He also reported on national trends in law enforcement and crime fighting, including police tactics, use of force, the drug war, racial profiling and the legal and political battles over firearms in America.
Before joining NPR, Westervelt worked as a reporter in Oregon and a news director and reporter in New Hampshire, and reported for Monitor Radio, the broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor.
Westervelt received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and American Studies from Reed College.
