Carol D. Leonnig

Carol Duhurst Leonnig is an American investigative journalist. She has been a staff writer at The Washington Post since 2000, and was part of a team of national security reporters that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting, which revealed the NSA's expanded spying on Americans. Leonnig also received Pulitzer Prizes for National Reporting in 2015 and 2018. Early life Leonnig is a native of Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County, Maryland. She graduated from Queen Anne School, a former college preparatory school, in Leeland, Maryland, in 1983. She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1987. Career Her first reporting job was in 1989 at The Philadelphia Inquirer. She later became a staff writer for The Charlotte Observer, where she first reported on city government, later covering the state legislature and eventually became the paper's Washington correspondent. During her time at The Observer, she was a lead reporter on several investigative projects, including one involving Bank of America's use of federal funds to raze low-income housing near its corporate headquarters and another uncovering that Gov. Jim Hunt personally directed state funds to be used to build a major bridge in his rural hometown. Hunt apologized and canceled the project after the story about his involvement was published. The Washington Post At The Washington Post, Leonnig first covered the District of Columbia city government and its problems with corruption, and then spent five years covering the federal courts in Washington. She reported on the Bush administration and issues surrounding the indefinitely imprisoned detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Leonnig writes for the Posts National Desk as part of a team that investigates public officials, federal agencies, and government accountability.