This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. (February 2019) |
James Bamford | |
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Born | James Bamford September 15, 1946 Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States |
Occupation | Author, Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker |
Nationality | American |
Education |
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Genre | Authority on the United States intelligence agencies |
Notable works |
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Notable awards |
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James Bamford (born September 15, 1946) is an American author, journalist and documentary producer noted for his writing about United States intelligence agencies, especially the National Security Agency (NSA).[1] The New York Times has called him "the nation's premier journalist on the subject of the National Security Agency" [2] and The New Yorker named him "the NSA's chief chronicler."[3]
Bamford has taught at the University of California, Berkeley as a distinguished visiting professor and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper's, and many other publications.
In 2006, he won the National Magazine Award for Reporting[4] for his writing on the war in Iraq published in Rolling Stone.
He is also an Emmy nominated documentary producer for PBS and spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for ABC's World News Tonight.
In 2015 he became the national security columnist for Foreign Policy magazine[5] and he also writes for The New Republic. His book, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, became a New York Times bestseller and was named by The Washington Post as one of "The Best Books of the Year."[6]
It is the third in a trilogy by Bamford on the NSA, following The Puzzle Palace (1982) and Body of Secrets (2001), also New York Times bestsellers. His latest book is Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence (2023).
For 30 years, on a sometimes lonely hunt, James Bamford has pursued that great white whale of American intelligence, the National Security Agency. It has been a jarring ride at times.