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.
-
In a tweet on Wednesday, the president said he intends to nominate Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
-
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is being criticized for charging his wife's travel to the government when she accompanied him to Europe. Shulkin says he complied with all ethics guidelines, but his chief of staff, also criticized for her role in arranging the trip, has announced her retirement.
-
The politics of medical marijuana are changing as veterans turn to the drug to treat service-related conditions. Trump administration efforts to enforce anti-pot laws have faced bipartisan pushback.
-
Los Angeles has one of the nation's worst rates of homeless veterans, but its Veterans Affairs campus doesn't support many of them. Instead it has gardens, a baseball stadium ... but that may change.
-
There's no clear consensus on why veterans' suicide is on the rise. There is a consensus on how to prevent it: take away their guns. But that may not be a viable suggestion politically.
-
This week's Call-In is about the Department of Veterans Affairs: stories from veterans about getting health care and ideas for reforming the whole agency.
-
The combination of a GOP controlled government and a secretary held over from the Obama administration may have created an opportunity for progress at the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs.
-
Veterans Affairs secretary nominee David Shulkin faces his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The session follows reports by NPR that document shortcomings in the longstanding attempts to improve the way the VA provides care, and promises by President Trump to further privatize its health services.
-
Money from the Veterans Choice Act, which was meant to improve medical staffing levels at VA health centers, has had little impact on hiring numbers and how quickly vets get access to medical care. -
Advocates were surprised that Trump chose top VA official David Shulkin as his pick to run the full department. What concerns them is Trump's support for increasing the privatization of VA services.
