He has been an anchor and reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, and his writing has appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He is also a former State Department official who worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan and reported to the Secretary of State as the United States' senior official focused on youth uprisings. He is the author of "War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of the American Influence" (from W.W. Norton, April 24, 2018). He is the winner of a 2018 George Polk Award, and has been nominated for the National Magazine Award, among other commendations. His speeches have been selected among NPR’s “Greatest Commencement Speeches Ever” and Huffington Post’s Top 10 Speeches of the Year.