Thomas E. Ricks

Thomas Edwin "Tom" Ricks is an accomplished American journalist with a focus on defense topics. He was born on September 25, 1955, and has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his work as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Ricks is a prolific writer and blogger, contributing to ForeignPolicy.com and authoring five books on military and defense issues. His writing is highly regarded in the field, with his blog being declared the best military blog by Military Reporters & Editors and the best blog of the year by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Ricks is a senior fellow at the ASU Future of War and a member of the Center for a New American Security, a defense policy think tank. He has also been a contributing editor at "Foreign Policy" magazine and a writer at "The Best Defense" blog. In addition to his writing, Ricks is a sought-after speaker on military and defense topics, lecturing widely to the military and serving on Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations.

Ricks has reported on military activities in various parts of the world, including Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. His books, including "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq" (2006) and "The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008" (2009), provide in-depth analysis of military operations and the individuals leading them. His work is widely respected for its insightful and thought-provoking perspective on military and defense issues.