WSJ hires two reporters for DC bureau

Wall Street Journal Washington bureau chief Paul Beckett sent out the following announcement on Monday:

All:

I am delighted to announce that Michael R. Gordon — a byline that needs no introduction in D.C. — will be joining the Washington bureau’s national security team, starting in mid-November.

Michael was national security correspondent for the New York Times, where he worked for three decades, covering the Pentagon and military affairs. He has reported from the field on numerous conflicts, including operations in Mosul against the Islamic State, the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, the Kosovo conflict, the Russian intervention in Chechnya, the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the American invasion of Panama. Michael also has covered the State Department, traveled extensively with Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and covered all of the key rounds of the Iran nuclear talks. From 1996 to 2000, he was Moscow bureau chief.

He is the author of three critically acclaimed books, most recently “The Endgame” in 2012, which covers political and military events in Iraq from the American-led invasion in 2003 through the withdrawal of American forces at the end of 2011. None other than the WSJ listed “The Endgame” as one of the top 10 non-fiction books of the year. In 1989, Michael was awarded the George Polk Award for International Reporting for his work with Stephen Engelberg on the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons and Libya’s effort to build a chemical weapons plant with German assistance. Michael received a B.A. from Colgate University, an M.A. in Philosophy from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Michael will work as part of our national security team on stories relating to the Pentagon and the State Department. He also plans to write a column on national security affairs in addition to his reporting duties. He will report to our national security editor, Bob Ourlian.

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I’m also pleased to announce that Julie Bykowicz will be joining the Washington bureau to cover money and politics at the beginning of October.

Julie has been covering campaign finance for years, most recently for The Associated Press, and she’s one the most respected experts in this arena. In addition to campaign finance, she’s been tracking ethics and lobbying issues in Washington. She will join our Politics group, working alongside the White House, Congress and national political teams, on stories that capture the intersection of money, policy and politics. She will report to our politics editor and deputy bureau chief, Jeanne Cummings.

Prior to the Associated Press, Julie covered similar issues at Bloomberg News where, in 2013, she was awarded an honorable mention in the National Press Club’s Excellence in Political Journalism award. She also has worked as a crime reporter and state political reporter at the Baltimore Sun. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Please join me in welcoming Michael and Julie to the bureau.

thanks and best, Paul