Megan McCloskey

ProPublica

Megan McCloskey covers the military for ProPublica. Previously she was the national correspondent at Stars and Stripes. She reported from several conflict and disaster zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and covered military operations in the Pacific. Her three-part series on a family’s struggle with the Department of Veterans Affairs to care for their severely wounded son was a finalist for a Livingston Award and ASNE’s Distinguished Writing Award for Nondeadline writing. And her investigative work about military suicides has been cited by members of Congress. Prior to Stars and Stripes, McCloskey was a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun covering the economy and national politics. She’s been an editor on the AP’s Asia desk in Bangkok, wrote about state and national news for AP’s Denver bureau, and covered religion for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. McCloskey graduated from the University of Missouri with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science.

Chairs at a school built, but never occupied, were stripped for firewood.

Behold: How the US blew $17 billion in Afghanistan

The US government has wasted billions of dollars in Afghanistan, and until now, no one has added it all up. Project after project blundered ahead ignoring history, culture and warnings of failure.

Behold: How the US blew $17 billion in Afghanistan