Quil Lawrence
Quil Lawrence is a New York-based correspondent for NPR News, covering veterans' issues nationwide. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Award for his coverage of American veterans and a Gracie Award for coverage of female combat veterans. In 2019 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America honored Quil with its IAVA Salutes Award for Leadership in Journalism.
Lawrence started his career in radio by interviewing con men in Tangier, Morocco. He then moved to Bogota, Colombia, and covered Latin America for NPR, the BBC, and The LA Times.
In the Spring of 2000, a Pew Fellowship sponsored his first trips to Iraq — that reporting experience eventually built the foundation for his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Lawrence has reported from throughout the Arab world and from Sudan, Cuba, Pakistan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan for twelve years, serving as NPR's Bureau Chief in Baghdad and Kabul. He covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the second battle of Fallujah in 2004, as well as politics, culture, and war in both countries.
In 2012, Lawrence returned to the U.S. to cover the millions of men and women who have served at war, both recently and in past generations. NPR is possibly unique among major news organizations in dedicating a full-time correspondent to veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says he's begun the process of reducing the retirement pay and rank of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over a video Kelly did telling troops not to follow illegal orders.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has launched administrative action against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut, which could affect Kelly's rank and retirement pay. -
The U.S. military announced Monday that it conducted a strike against another alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person.
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The VA secretary says the department will trim at least 25,000 vacant positions from the rolls. That's after about that same number have already left the VA this year.
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Members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees will see the full video of a controversial U.S. boat strike Wednesday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth decided not to release publicly.
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Congress is calling for action in response to reporting last week from NPR that "claim shark" companies are using aggressive tactics to make millions off of veterans, despite warnings from VA's that it may be illegal. -
What's going on at the Pentagon and what does it mean for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, Tom Bowman and Quil Lawrence break it down in this excerpt from Sources & Methods.
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In the face of charges that these strikes amount to execution without trial, the White House is sending a confusing message about who exactly gave each order to use deadly force. -
NPR has been following the money behind veterans' disability claims — specifically, for-profit companies that help vets navigate the VA's red tape. Critics of the companies call them "claim sharks."
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A Florida-based company is charging military veterans as much as $20,000 for help with disability claims, even though the VA has said that may be illegal and the service should be free. But so far nobody's stopping the company and others like it.
