John Walcott is an award-winning journalist, foreign policy and national security expert, author, and academic. John has reported on or from more than 80 countries during a career that has spanned more than four decades and included coverage of the civil wars in Lebanon and Central America, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of China. He has taught Media and International Relations in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University for 23 years.

As Washington Bureau Chief of Knight Ridder, Inc., John led the only team of reporters to challenge the George W. Bush administration’s claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda. Their work inspired the 2018 film “Shock and Awe”, in which he is portrayed by the actor and director Rob Reiner.

He was the U.S. representative to the United Nations Conference on the New World Information and Communication Order and a senior advisor to the Kassebaum-Baker Commission on gender integration in initial entry military training.

He is the inaugural winner of the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence from the Neiman Foundation at Harvard University, and a recipient of the Bicentennial Medal from Williams College, the Vicennial Medal from Georgetown University, the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting, the Edward M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence, the Freedom of the Press Award, the National Headliner Award, and other honors.

With CBS News correspondent David C. Martin, he is the co-author of “Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America’s War on Terrorism”.

He is a graduate of Williams College.