Mike Shuster
Mike Shuster is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent and roving foreign correspondent for NPR News. He is based at NPR West, in Culver City, CA. When not traveling outside the U.S., Shuster covers issues of nuclear non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Pacific Rim.
In recent years, Shuster has helped shape NPRs extensive coverage of the Middle East as one of the leading reporters to cover this region – traveling in the spring of 2007 to Iraq to cover the increased deployment of American forces in Baghdad. He has traveled frequently to Iran – seven times since 2004 – to report on Iran's nuclear program and political changes there. He has also reported frequently from Israel, covering the 2006 war with Hezbollah, the pullout from Gaza in 2005 and the second intifada that erupted in 2000. His 2007 week-long series "The Partisans of Ali" explored the history of Shi'ite faith and politics, providing a rare, comprehensive look at the complexities of the Islamic religion and its impact on the Western world.
Shuster has won numerous awards for his reporting. He was part of the NPR News team to be recognized with a Peabody Award for coverage of September 11th and its aftermath. He was also part of the NPR News teams to receive Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for coverage of the Iraq War (2007 and 2004); September 11th and the war in Afghanistan (2003); and the Gulf War (1992). In 2003, Shuster was honored for his series "The Middle East: A Century of Conflict" with an Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award and First in Documentary Reporting from the National Headliner Awards. He also received an honorable mention from the Overseas Press Club in 1999, and the SAJA Journalism Award in 1998.
Through his reporting for NPR, Shuster has also taken listeners to India and Pakistan, the Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, and the Congo. He was NPR's senior Moscow correspondent in the early 1990s, when he covered the collapse of the Soviet Union and a wide range of political, economic, and social issues in Russia and the other independent states of the former Soviet Union.
From September 1989 to June 1991, Shuster was stationed in England as senior editor of NPR's London Bureau. For two months in early 1991, he was assigned to Saudi Arabia to cover the Gulf War. While at the London Bureau, Shuster also covered the unification of Germany, from the announcement of the opening of the Berlin Wall to the establishment of a single currency for that country. He traveled to Germany monthly during this time to trace the revolution there, from euphoria over the freedom to travel, to the decline of the Communist Party, to the newly independent country's first free elections.
Before moving to London, Shuster worked as a reporter and bureau chief at NPR New York, and an editor of Weekend All Things Considered. He joined NPR in 1980 as a freelance reporter covering business and the economy.
Prior to coming to NPR, Shuster was a United Nations correspondent for Pacifica News Service, during which he covered the 1980 election of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. He traveled throughout Africa as a freelance foreign affairs reporter in 1970 and again in 1976; on this latter trip, Shuster spent five months covering Angolan civil war and its aftermath.
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The dollar has lost about 20 percent of its value against the euro in the last two years. But members of the Bush administration downplay the threat of a financial crisis.
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For the past two years, the dollar has been sliding in value against the euro and other currencies. We begin a three-part series looking at the economic and geopolitical effects of a weak dollar.
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A presidential commission studying the effective of U.S. intelligence released a report on Thursday criticizing the government's intelligence gathering efforts in Iraq. NPR's Alex Chadwick speaks with NPR's Mike Shuster about the findings.
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The war on terror has forced al Qaida to decentralize its global structure. A former FBI counterterrorism agent says al Qaida is an especially flexible organization that has changed its tactics but has the same goal: an attack in the United States. Although no attacks have occurred since Sept. 11, al Qaida is still viewed as the top threat to U.S. national security.
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North Korea announced that it possesses nuclear weapons and will withdraw indefinitely from six-party proliferation talks. NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with NPR's Mike Shuster about the country's claim.
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Making-up 60 percent of Iraq's population, Shiite Muslims look to be big winners in the Jan. 30 elections. Some worry the Shia community is too close to Iran and could push the country toward a more theocratic model. But some experts believe the Shia may be democracy's best hope in a new Iraq. Hear NPR's Mike Shuster.
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Residents of the Iraqi city of Fallujah have still not been able to return to their homes, more than a month after U.S. forces seized control of the city. But unexpected resistance from remaining insurgents is hindering resettlement. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.
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Bombings in Najaf and Karbala, Iraq, leave dozens dead and wounded, in the latest insurgent attacks. In Fallujah, U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces plan to allow some residents to return to their homes, even as they still encounter insurgents. Hear NPR's Mike Shuster.
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Iraq's interim prime minister says that war-crimes trials will begin next week for top officials of Saddam Hussein's former regime. Ayad Allawi made the announcement while speaking to Iraq's National Council. He did not say when Saddam Hussein might face trial. Hear NPR's Mike Shuster.
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The U.S. Army is deploying sniper teams in Iraq, hoping to eliminate insurgents before they can attack. NPR's Mike Shuster visits with a team of snipers in Baghdad.
