Larry Abramson
Larry Abramson is NPR's National Security Correspondent. He covers the Pentagon, as well as issues relating to the thousands of vets returning home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Prior to his current role, Abramson was NPR's Education Correspondent covering a wide variety of issues related to education, from federal policy to testing to instructional techniques in the classroom. His reporting focused on the impact of for-profit colleges and universities, and on the role of technology in the classroom. He made a number of trips to New Orleans to chart the progress of school reform there since Hurricane Katrina. Abramson also covers a variety of news stories beyond the education beat.
In 2006, Abramson returned to the education beat after spending nine years covering national security and technology issues for NPR. Since 9/11, Abramson has covered telecommunications regulation, computer privacy, legal issues in cyberspace, and legal issues related to the war on terrorism.
During the late 1990s, Abramson was involved in several special projects related to education. He followed the efforts of a school in Fairfax County, Virginia, to include severely disabled students in regular classroom settings. He joined the National Desk reporting staff in 1997.
For seven years prior to his position as a reporter on the National Desk, Abramson was senior editor for NPR's National Desk. His department was responsible for approximately 25 staff reporters across the United States, five editors in Washington, and news bureaus in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The National Desk also coordinated domestic news coverage with news departments at many of NPR's member stations. The desk doubled in size during Abramson's tenure. He oversaw the development of specialized beats in general business, high-technology, workplace issues, small business, education, and criminal justice.
Abramson joined NPR in 1985 as a production assistant with Morning Edition. He moved to the National Desk, where he served for two years as Western editor. From there, he became the deputy science editor with NPR's Science Unit, where he helped win a duPont-Columbia Award as editor of a special series on Black Americans and AIDS.
Prior to his work at NPR, Abramson was a freelance reporter in San Francisco and worked with Voice of America in California and in Washington, D.C.
He has a master's degree in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley. Abramson also studied overseas at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and at the Free University in Berlin, Germany.
-
The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing to look into the security of consumer information and possible privacy protections to prevent identity theft. At least three major companies -- most recently, Lexis-Nexis -- have suffered security breaches in private databases containing consumer data.
-
The Government Accountability Office says dozens of people whose names are on terrorism watch lists were able to buy guns in the U.S. legally last year. Gun control supporters say the report underscores the need to tighten requirements for gun purchases.
-
Georgia-based ChoicePoint Inc. is sending out 145,000 letters to warn consumers their personal information has been stolen. But law enforcement officials say many more people need to be on guard for possible identity theft, after crooks got unauthorized access to information in ChoicePoint's databases.
-
A federal judge says the U.S. government must provide detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with a fair opportunity to challenge their incarceration. U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green says Defense Department hearings do not satisfy last year's Supreme Court ruling on the matter. The ruling is a setback for the government, but the detainees may face a long legal battle before they get what they want.
-
Microsoft releases its "Antispyware Beta" as a free download, without saying if consumers will have to pay for it in the future. It works like other free tools available from other providers, scanning computers for software known to have ill inent.
-
Protesters demonstrating against President Bush's policies on the event of his second inauguration speech are confined to a small area along the parade route, and the central Washington, D.C., area is all but closed down amid very tight security. Hear NPR's Alex Chadwick and NPR's Larry Abramson. -
A report released Friday by the Inspector General of the Justice Department chides the FBI for firing translator Sibell Edmonds. Edmonds said co-workers performed poor translations and may have been involved in espionage. The report says the FBI never adequately investigated the translator's claims, and that she was fired in large part because of her efforts to blow the whistle. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.
-
The Federal Communications Commission agrees to consider ending its ban on cell phone use during airline flights. But the Federal Aviation Administration still has to decide whether the idea is safe. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.
-
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday. Critics say Ashcroft disregarded civil liberties. His supporters argue Ashcroft helped prevent further terror attacks on American soil. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson.
-
Microsoft reaches two antitrust settlements, hoping the European Commission will drop its fines. The software giant will pay $536 million to Novell, Inc. and an undisclosed amount to an industry trade group. Still, the EC still plans to go ahead with sanctions. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.
