John Dinges

John Dinges "is a former foreign correspondent and the author of three books on major events involving the United States and Latin America. He was a special correspondent in Chile and Central America for The Washington Post, where he also worked as a foreign desk editor. He served as deputy foreign editor and managing editor of National Public Radio News. Mr. Dinges is the recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for excellence in Latin American reporting, and the Media Award of the Latin American Studies Association. He also shared two DuPont-Columbia University prizes for broadcast journalism, as NPR managing editor. He is currently on the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has an MA in Latin American studies from Stanford University.

"Mr. Dinges’ most recent book is The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents (The New Press 2004), an account of international assassinations and secret police coordination in South America, the United States and Europe. His book (with Saul Landau), Assassination on Embassy Row (Pantheon 1980), (Asesinato en Washington, Lasser 1980, Planeta 1990), investigates the murder of Orlando Letelier in Washington. He is also the author of Our Man in Panama: The Shrewd Rise and Brutal Fall of Manuel Noriega (Random House 1990; Times books 1991). He is the editor of two guides to public radio ethics and journalistic standards: Sound Reporting (Kendall-Hunt 1992) and Independence and Integrity (NPR 1995).

"John Dinges lives in Washington and New York. He is married to Carolina Kenrick, to whom his latest book is dedicated. They have three children: Tomás, Sebastián and Camila." 

"He was one of the few American journalists to reside in Chile during the most violent period of military government. He was special correspondent (stringer) for Time, The Washington Post, and ABC Radio. With a group of Chilean journalists he co-founded of the Chilean magazine APSI. After returning to Washington DC in 1978, he worked on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, traveling as a reporter to cover the civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. From 1985 to 1996 he worked at National Public Radio as foreign editor, managing editor, and editorial director. Since 1996 he has been on the faculty of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he is associate professor and director of radio." 


 * Member, Human Rights Watch Americas Advisory Committee
 * Advisory Board, National Security Archive