Jackie Northam
Jackie Northam is NPR's International Affairs Correspondent. She is a veteran journalist who has spent three decades reporting on conflict, geopolitics, and life across the globe - from the mountains of Afghanistan and the desert sands of Saudi Arabia, to the gritty prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and the pristine beauty of the Arctic.
Northam spent more than a dozen years as an international correspondent living in London, Budapest, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Nairobi. She charted the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, reported from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and the rise of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She was in Islamabad to cover the Taliban recapturing Afghanistan
Her work has taken her to conflict zones around the world. Northam covered the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, arriving in the country just four days after Hutu extremists began slaughtering ethnic Tutsis. In Afghanistan, she accompanied Green Berets on a precarious mission to take a Taliban base. In Cambodia, she reported from Khmer Rouge strongholds.
Throughout her career, Northam has revealed the human experience behind the headlines, from the courage of Afghan villagers defying militant death threats to cast their vote in a national election, or exhausted rescue workers desperately searching for survivors following a massive earthquake in Haiti.
Northam joined NPR in 2000 as National Security Correspondent, covering defense and intelligence policies at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She led the network's coverage of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Her present beat focuses on the complex relationship between geopolitics and the global economy, including efforts to counter China's rising power.
Northam has received multiple journalism awards, including Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow awards, and was part of the NPR team that won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for "The DNA Files," a series about the science of genetics.
Originally from Canada, Northam spends her time off crewing in the summer, on the ski hills in the winter, and on long walks year-round with her beloved beagle, Tara.
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China is investing in both coal and renewable energy, the European Union promises to dramatically reduce carbon emissions and the U.S. is leaving the Paris Agreement altogether. What will 2021 hold? -
The Wall Street Journal's Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck chart MBS' evolution from an unfocused, overweight kid with a taste for McDonald's to an increasingly brutish man with an eye on the throne. -
The U.S. says it has seized more than 1 million barrels of Iranian fuel from four tankers heading to Venezuela. The move is part of the Trump administration's campaign of maximum pressure on Iran.
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The ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute is spilling over into the search for a new head of the World Trade Organization. Candidates for the job are now trying to appeal to both Washington and Beijing.
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Former diplomat Tianna Spears says she was pulled aside 20-plus times crossing from Mexico into the U.S. "One time, I was told not to look at the officer in the eyes when I spoke to him," she says. -
The pandemic has reignited calls to sever supply chains with China, which isn't easy when the U.S. relies on rare earth elements used in defense systems and electronics.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled his vision of how the U.S. should redefine its advocacy of human rights — stressing religion. Critics say it could endanger abortion rights and LGBTQ equality.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will release a special report this week that critics say is intended to turn U.S. efforts on human rights into global attacks on abortion rights and same sex marriage.
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Arctic watchers fear 150,000 barrels of diesel oil from a ruptured fuel tank at a Russian nickel mine will spill into the Arctic Ocean, as cleanup efforts falter.
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The U.S. is preventing telecom giant Huawei from getting critical components, and is pressuring allies not to use its products. But there could be serious side effects for American companies.
