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.
-
The Department of Veterans Affairs is intervening on behalf of 6,000 homeowners with VA loans who are in the foreclosure process. Many more are delinquent. The move follows an investigation by NPR. -
A massive VA campus in West Los Angeles is finally housing hundreds of vets, and may finally change the city's worst-in-the-nation status on veterans homelessness. -
The move follows an NPR investigation that finds thousands of veterans are facing foreclosure through no fault of their own and that the VA can stop them from losing their homes. -
The U.S. has sent military advisers to Israel, including a Marine commander with experience in urban warfare. They'll offer lessons learned and keep Washington in the loop on Israeli moves in Gaza.
-
In Israel, President Biden warned that the U.S. made mistakes in its reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Diplomats and military planners from Iraq and Afghanistan explain what that warning means in Gaza.
-
The military is among the largest buyers of independent power systems known as microgrids. They make tactical sense; and environmentalists hope they can help the transition from fossil fuels. -
California has set up a permanent task force of National Guard members to do what used to be occasional work fighting and preventing wildfires. -
A long political campaign for veterans hurt by toxic exposures resulted in the largest expansion of VA care in decades. Advocates are urging veterans to access retroactive benefits. -
As most Korean War vets are well into their 90s, they still struggle with America's perceptions of what has been called "the Forgotten War." -
On the 70th anniversary of an armistice that stopped the Korean War, veterans reflect, while some activists call on U.S. officials to officially declare the conflict over.
