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.
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Drone makers and robotics manufacturers gathered in Las Vegas are optimistic that they will overcome civil liberties concerns about these gadgets, and make the leap from wartime to peacetime markets. Products include "throwable" robots that police can use for remote surveillance, and small aircraft to watch volcanic eruptions. -
Drones are no longer the sole province of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. They are starting to appear in U.S. skies. Police are employing them to fight crime. Enthusiasts are making their own at home. Rules governing their use are changing, and civil liberties groups are calling for privacy restrictions. -
Unless an agreement on deficit reduction is reached, the entire government will face across-the-board cuts. The deadline for these automatic spending cuts — called sequestration — is now approaching, and the Pentagon, Congress and defense industry view the threat of a budget cut like an invasion from Mars. -
Opening statements will be made Tuesday in the trial of a former Air Force instructor accused of rape and sexual assault of young trainees in his care at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Staff Sgt. Luis Walker faces 28 charges and could be sentenced to life in prison. Other instructors are also under investigation. -
The military says it's dangerous to depend exclusively on fossil fuels, and has launched a program to develop alternative fuels for use by military vehicles. Energy consumption is a big expense for the Pentagon. But some members of Congress don't think the military should be a laboratory for finding energy alternatives, and say the military should not be spending money on this kind of research at a time when defense dollars are shrinking.
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A law meant to outlaw lying about military honors was struck down 6-3 by the Supreme Court. The court says the law, known as the Stolen Valor Act, was written so broadly that it infringes on free speech. Some of the justices suggested that the law could be rewritten to focus only on those who lie about military awards in order to gain benefit.
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It's estimated that only 15 percent of sex crimes in the military are reported. The Pentagon is revising its policies, but there is still skepticism about how much will change. -
Francis Gary Powers became an iconic Cold War figure when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. Yet when he returned home, a shadow hung over him. On Friday, the Pentagon honored him posthumously. -
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has arrived in Afghanistan to review the progress of the war and to discuss plans for withdrawing forces. Panetta's trip comes a day after a Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan left more than 20 people dead and at least 50 wounded.
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When Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the reporters traveling with him were driven from Hanoi's airport into the city, the police officers escorting the motorcade were tough on the city's scooter riders.
