AP’s Bonnell becomes national security and foreign policy editor

AP Washington bureau chief Anna Johnson and deputy Washington bureau chief Michael Tackett sent out the following on Tuesday announcing that Courtney Bonnell will join AP’s team in Washington as the new national security and foreign policy editor:

We know many of you have worked with Courtney over the years and know that in addition to being a stellar editor she also is a champion of collaboration. In her current role in London as the Europe, Middle East and Africa business editor, Courtney consistently brings journalists together across teams, regions, formats and more to produce distinctive stories on everything from food insecurity issues exasperated by the war in Ukraine to how tensions in the Middle East and especially in the Red Sea are causing disruptions to fragile global supply chains.

Those collaboration skills will be key to her new role, where we aim to connect the dots between what happens in Washington with news and events around the world.

Before moving to London in 2021, Courtney was a supervisor in the West region in Phoenix where she was a go-to editor on top U.S. news stories including devastating wildfires, mass shootings, politics and elections. Courtney also was part of a global AP team that received the 2021 Dart Award for Excellence in Trauma Coverage for the extraordinary “Lives Lost” series, which told the stories of people around the world who died from COVID-19.

Prior to joining AP in 2013, Courtney was an editor at The Arizona Republic where she often also filled in as metro editor and front-page editor. She also worked at the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas and The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California. Bonnell is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

Please join us in welcoming Courtney to our team and to Washington! She will start in Washington in mid-April.