Biography provided by participant
James Kitfield is presently the national security and foreign affairs correspondent for National Journal magazine, an independent and non-partisan newsweekly on politics and government published by Atlantic Media Company. He has written on defense, national security and foreign policy issues from Washington, D.C. for over two decades.
Most recently, Kitfield authored the book "War & Destiny," (How the Bush Revolution in Foreign and Military Affairs Redefined American Power), published by Potomac Books in 2005. Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.) called the book "masterful" and "an incredibly insightful portrayal of war, diplomacy, national security policy-making, and the struggle for American success in Iraq." U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings said the book "explains the neoconservative ideology and its effects with such clarity that nothing happening today in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere should be a surprise…his accounts as a print journalist seem more gripping than anything reported on television." Joint Forces Quarterly said "War and Destiny" will "rank with the best" of the post-9/11 books, and is "the first book that encompasses Bush's foreign policy, defense policy, and defense transformation, and integrates them with a detailed first-person look at the war in Iraq…well written, comprehensive, and complex." Kitfield is also author of "Prodigal Soldiers," (How the Generation of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the American Style of War), published by Simon & Schuster in 1995. The Chicago Tribune called the book "A major work of U.S. military history," and the Wall Street Journal referred to it as "One of the most illuminating military books in recent years..."
In 2008 the Military Reporters and Editors Association awarded Kitfield its top prize for excellence in overseas reporting for his coverage of the "surge" in Iraq the previous year, an award he also won in 2004 for his first-hand coverage of the invasion of Iraq. His reporting from Iraq in 2008 also garnered honorable mention in the Edgar A. Poe Awards given by the White House Correspondents Association for coverage of news of national significance.
In 2002 Kitfield received the Stewart Alsop Media Excellence Award, sponsored by the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, for his coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and follow-on events. Each year the Alsop Award recognizes a journalist who has made "an exceptional contribution to balanced and informed coverage on national security and intelligence-related issues." Kitfield also received the 2000 Edwin Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence given annually by the National Press Club to recognize excellence in reporting on diplomatic and foreign policy issues. Citing Kitfield's insightful writing on trans-Atlantic issues, the German Marshall Fund awarded him a Peter R. Weitz Prize and a $5,000 check in 2001 for excellence in reporting on European affairs.
In 1995, Kitfield was the recipient of the Gerald R. Ford Award for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense. The $5,000 award recognizes "journalists whose standards for accuracy and insight help foster a better understanding of national defense issues." As the 1990 recipient of the Ford Award for his coverage of Desert Shield, Kitfield is the only two-time winner in the award's history. In 1987, Kitfield won the Jesse H. Neal Award for Excellence in Reporting from the Association of Business Publishers for an article on the vulnerability of the Navy's surface warships that preceded the tragic attack on the USS Stark by an Iraqi aircraft.
Before moving to Washington, D.C. Kitfield worked in Europe for five years as managing editor of Overseas Life Magazine, a publication for U.S. service members stationed abroad. His articles have appeared in The National Interest, National Journal, Omni, Newsday, Los Angeles Magazine, Army Times, Air Force Magazine, The Stars & Stripes, Off Duty, and other publications. Kitfield is a 1978 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry Grady School of Journalism.
