Bryan Bender (born May 18, 1972) is a communications executive and former award-winning national security reporter and editor who advises tech companies, nonprofits and research universities for SMI,[1] a Washington, DC, government affairs firm, and is an adjunct professor [2] at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Bender has covered U.S. military and diplomatic operations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has reported on a range of topics such as domestic and international terrorism; the international arms trade; veterans affairs; military training; nuclear arms control;[5] the anti-war movement; the nexus between climate change and national security;[6] government secrecy;[7] and newly declassified government files on Cuba, Vietnam, the Kennedy Administration, and unidentified anomalous phenomena,[8] or UAP.
[11] Bender is researching a book on the early political careers of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the House of Representatives.
[12] Bender is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and attended the United Hebrew Institute in Kingston and Wyoming Valley West High School in Plymouth.
[14][15] In 2011, he was a finalist for the Gerald R. Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Reporting for a probe into the growing role of retired generals and admirals in defense companies and as private consultants.