Bryan Bender

Bryan Bender (born 1972) is an American journalist, who covers national security affairs for the Boston Globe in its Washington, D.C. bureau. He is author of You Are Not Forgotten, the true story of a modern-day soldier’s search for a missing World War II fighter pilot in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea, to be published by Doubleday in October 2013.
He has covered US military operations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America and his dispatches have covered a range of topics including the war in Afghanistan; veterans; military training; the anti-war movement; the Boston Marathon bombings; the nexus between climate change and national security; and newly declassified government files on Cuba, Vietnam, and the Kennedy Administration.

Bender is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He earned undergraduate degrees in Political Science and English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bender specializes in military affairs, foreign policy, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and government secrecy.

In 1998, Bender was named the Washington bureau chief for Jane's Defence Weekly, a London-based magazine.

In 2007, Bender was a finalist for the Scripps Howard Foundation's Washington Reporting Award for an investigation into an Army cheating scandal.

In 2011, he was a finalist for the Gerald R. Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Reporting for a probe into the growing role of retired generals and admirals in defense companies and as private consultants.

In 2011 he was also elected president of Military Reporters and Editors Association, the professional association for journalists covering the US military.

His work has also appeared in The New Republic, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Jane's Defence Weekly, among other publications. He is also frequent television and radio commentator on national security and foreign policy topics.