The Intercept’s National Security Team Expands

Matthew Cole, one of the most intrepid reporters on the national security beat, is joining The Intercept. With his deep knowledge, sources and storytelling talents, Cole will be a powerful addition to our reporting team as we continue to trace the tentacles of the national security state.

Cole has covered national security since 2005 for U.S. television networks and print outlets. He has reported extensively on the CIA’s post-9/11 transformation, identifying and locating a secret CIA prison in Lithuania used to interrogate al Qaeda detainees. Since 2005, Cole has traveled throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover conflict and investigate U.S. intelligence operations.

For the past six years, Cole has worked as a producer for ABC and NBC News. At each network, Cole broke stories of global significance. His subjects have included Blackwater’s covert work with the CIA and JSOC; the Raymond Davis affair in Pakistan; the death of Osama bin Laden; missing Libyan surface-to-air missiles after the fall of Qadaffi; classified CIA documents related to its drone program; and a SEAL Team 6 raid in Somalia. This past December, Cole published an extraordinary account of the CIA officer responsible for many aspects of the agency’s infamous torture program (a report The Intercept followed up, disclosing the officer’s name).

For NBC News, Cole worked closely with Glenn Greenwald to report stories based on documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and secured the first American television interview of Snowden.

We are also delighted to announce the hire of Jenna McLaughlin as a reporter/blogger in our growing Washington bureau. McLaughlin, who was an editorial fellow at Mother Jones, recently wrote about self-proclaimed freedom fighter Matthew VanDyke and his ill-fated plan to raise an Iraqi Christian army to fight ISIS, and reported on how the U.S. military’s sexual assault problem has gotten so bad that the United Nations has singled it out for criticism.

At The Intercept, McLaughlin will primarily focus on surveillance and national security news for our Unofficial Sources blog.