[10] Keller joined The New York Times in April 1984,[11] and served in the following capacities:[10] He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his "resourceful and detailed coverage of events in the U.S.S.R." during 1988.

But, as Keller wrote, this was the same Secretary Snow who invited a group of reporters to a 6-day trip on a military aircraft "to show off the department's efforts to track terrorist financing."

Keller was a leading supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, explaining his backing for military action in his article 'The I-Can't-Believe-I'm-A-Hawk Club'.

[15] Two days after the invasion, Keller wrote the column 'Why Colin Powell Should Go',[16] arguing for US Secretary of State's resignation because his strategy of diplomacy at the UN had failed.

[17] On July 6, 2005, Keller spoke in defense of Judith Miller and her refusal to give up documents relating to the Valerie Plame case.

The NSA program itself was reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee as to whether it sidesteps the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and after The Times articles, the Administration changed its procedures, allowing for more safeguards and more Congressional and judicial oversight.

[22] He had served as the Times bureau chief in Johannesburg from April 1992 to May 1995[10]—spanning the end of apartheid in South Africa and election of Mandela's African National Congress as the governing party in 1994.

The project was originally conceived by former hedge fund manager, filmmaker and journalist Neil Barsky, who announced it in his byline in an unrelated New York Times article in November 2013.