Sarah D. Wire takes on new beat covering national security and the Justice Department
The following announcement was sent on behalf of Washington Bureau Chief Kimbriell Kelly:
I’m excited to announce that congressional reporter Sarah D. Wire will take on a new beat covering national security and the Justice Department. She will focus on the rise of extremism and how government agencies combat the threats posed by domestic terrorists, international terrorist groups and foreign adversaries.
Wire has worked for The Times since 2015 and was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the San Bernardino shooting. She was awarded the 2020 Sigma Delta Chi award for Washington correspondence for her exhaustive work detailing the failures of Congress’ hastily written economic aid package, the CARES Act, and how it led to overspending and deprived seniors of food. In October, she published an investigation detailing how vulnerable windows at the Capitol helped Jan. 6 rioters breach the building, which resulted in a decision by Capitol Police to upgrade them this spring.
In this new role, Wire will leverage her experience covering Congress to track the House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, as well as related probes of the attack. She was at the Capitol that day and reported throughout the attack, an experience she memorialized in a first-person account for The Times and most recently for “The Times” podcast on the anniversary.
Wire has spent the last six years covering Congress, where she produced scoops and insightful profiles of California lawmakers, like Alex Padilla. She will continue her accountability work in this new role, following Department of Justice investigations into lawmakers, such as U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, COVID aid fraud and major civil rights cases.
Prior to joining The Times, Wire was the Washington correspondent for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and was a statehouse reporter in Arkansas, Idaho and Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri. She serves on the National Press Club Board of Governors and previously led the Regional Reporters Assn. and the Standing Committee of Correspondents.
