Quil Lawrence
David Gilkey / NPR
Quil Lawrence is a New York-based correspondent for NPR News, covering veterans' issues nationwide. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Award for his coverage of American veterans and a Gracie Award for coverage of female combat veterans. In 2019 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America honored Quil with its IAVA Salutes Award for Leadership in Journalism.
Lawrence started his career in radio by interviewing con men in Tangier, Morocco. He then moved to Bogota, Colombia, and covered Latin America for NPR, the BBC, and The LA Times.
In the Spring of 2000, a Pew Fellowship sponsored his first trips to Iraq — that reporting experience eventually built the foundation for his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Lawrence has reported from throughout the Arab world and from Sudan, Cuba, Pakistan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan for twelve years, serving as NPR's Bureau Chief in Baghdad and Kabul. He covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the second battle of Fallujah in 2004, as well as politics, culture, and war in both countries.
In 2012, Lawrence returned to the U.S. to cover the millions of men and women who have served at war, both recently and in past generations. NPR is possibly unique among major news organizations in dedicating a full-time correspondent to veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.
New Memorial Recognizes Generations Of Military Service By Native American Veterans
By Quil Lawrence • Nov 11, 2020
Twenty-five years in the making, a new monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., opens on Veterans Day — the National Native American Veterans Memorial.
"It's an article of faith in Indian country that Native Americans serve at a greater rate than basically any other group," said Kevin Gover, the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and a citizen of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. He said the steel ring sculpture over a carved stone drum, in a wooded area near the museum's entrance, will become hallowed ground.
Will Veterans Vote For Trump This Year?
By Quil Lawrence • Oct 20, 2020
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
New Scrutiny On Trump's Gold Star Family Event After COVID-19 Outbreak
By Quil Lawrence • Oct 8, 2020
A growing list of attendees to a reception last month for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett have tested positive for coronavirus.
But the next day, the annual Gold Star Mother's Day event was held indoors at the White House, and official photos from the reception show very few people wearing masks.
Governor And De Blasio Split On Approach To Curbing Coronavirus Spread
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
COVID-19 Pandemic Threatens Homeless Veterans
By Quil Lawrence • Sep 25, 2020
Jon Stewart Uses His Celebrity To Bring Attention To Vets Exposed To Burn Pits
Since retiring from television in 2015, comedian Jon Stewart's most prominent work has been on behalf of Sept. 11 first responders — people who got sick after working in the toxic wreckage of the World Trade Center in New York. Many credit his celebrity testimony in 2019 with pushing Congress to preserve the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation fund.
White House Plan Breaks Taboo: A Focus On Guns And Veteran Suicide
By Quil Lawrence • Aug 4, 2020
This summer the Trump administration rolled out the President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) - a long awaited strategy to bring down the rate of suicide in the military and among civilians. It focuses on enlisting community partners and a public awareness campaign to fight the stigma around seeking help during a mental health crisis.
The White House's New Suicide Prevention Plan For Veterans Addresses Access To Guns
Trump Administration Clears For-Profit Colleges To Register Veterans Again
By Quil Lawrence • Jul 16, 2020
For the second time in two months, the Trump administration has sided with the for-profit college industry over a key constituency: veterans. In May, the president vetoed a bipartisan bill promoting debt forgiveness for veterans who were defrauded by for-profit schools. Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs is allowing two repeat-offending schools access to GI Bill money.
As The Country Reexamines Statues And Symbols, The VA Resists A Gender-Neutral Motto
By Quil Lawrence • Jun 28, 2020
From Richmond to Seattle, cities are taking a fresh look at – and sometimes taking a sledgehammer to – statues of slave owners. U.S. military bases named for Confederate generals are under scrutiny, and the Marine Corps has banned Confederate flags. Some veterans would like to see this momentum help change the gender-exclusive motto of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
NYPD Officer Accused Of Using Chokehold Charged With Strangulation
The New York police officer accused of using a chokehold in an incident captured on video Sunday has been charged with strangulation.
The officer, 39-year-old David Afanador, was suspended the same day the cellphone video appeared to show him choking a Black man on a Queens boardwalk. Now he's been arrested and charged with felony strangulation and attempted strangulation. Afanador pleaded not guilty and was released Thursday afternoon without bail.
NYPD Suspends Officer Over Using Apparent Chokehold During Arrest
A New York City police officer has been suspended after apparently using a chokehold during an arrest in Rockaway, Queens. NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea said the department is investigating the incident, which happened Sunday.
Cellphone video shot by a bystander shows several police struggling to subdue a Black man, including one officer who had his arm around the man's neck. One bystander shouts, "Stop choking him!"
Atlanta Police Chief Resigns
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
New York Criminalizes Use Of Chokeholds By Police
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed what he says are the most aggressive police accountability measures in the nation, including criminalizing the use of chokeholds, following weeks of protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.
What Veterans Think About Sending Active-Duty Troops To Police Protests
By Quil Lawrence • Jun 4, 2020
COVID-19 Hits Veterans Homes, VA Says New Home-Care Program Still Months Off.
By Quil Lawrence • May 16, 2020
Macabre news of bodies stacked in a makeshift morgue. Federal emergency teams swooping in to take control of state veterans homes where the coronavirus has killed scores. For veterans, getting care in their own homes has gone from a preference to a matter of survival.
"It's definitely scary," says Rob Grier.
VA Says It's Getting More Masks For Staff; Workers Say They're Still Unsafe
By Quil Lawrence • May 2, 2020
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the nation's largest health care system that takes care of 9 1/2 million vets at 170 hospitals. Like other hospitals, it's been forced to ration personal protective equipment during the pandemic, even though it's supposed to be part of the nation's emergency response to disasters or pandemics. Quil Lawrence covers veterans affairs for NPR, and he joins us now.
Quil, thanks so much for being with us.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: My pleasure, Scott.
VA Head Acknowledges Challenges For Health Care Workers Battling Coronavirus
By Quil Lawrence • Apr 20, 2020
The Department of Veterans Affairs is the country's largest health care network with 300 hospitals, clinics and nursing homes nationwide. More than 9 million American veterans get care from the VA, and today VA doctors and nurses serve on the frontlines of the pandemic crisis.
VA Head Pledges To Provide Health Care Backstop, Responds To Lack Of Gear Claims
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Orders Public Mask Use To Curb COVID-19 Spread
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has joined other states and ordered people in New York to wear face coverings in public when they can't remain 6 feet apart, in order to protect the gains his state has made against the coronavirus.
Despite fatalities still reaching more than 700 daily, Cuomo said the outbreak has stabilized and the danger of overwhelming the health system seems to have passed. Cuomo said he would never forget all the help New York received, and he announced he'd be sending 100 ventilators to Michigan and 50 to Maryland.
Public Health Service Poised To Create A Ready Reserve To Fight The Coronavirus
Watching the White House briefings on the pandemic is prompting questions about the officials gathered near the podium, including: Who's that in the blue uniform with four stars on his collar?
Admiral Brett Giroir, M.D., is assistant secretary for health – not in the Navy but in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), one of the country's two unarmed services. (For extra credit: The other one is NOAA.)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Says He Won't Fight With Trump
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will not fight with President Trump during a pandemic, appearing conciliatory after a day of rising tension between the two men.
At a news conference Monday, Trump said his "authority is total" in terms of when to open the economy. He then tweeted Tuesday that governors such as Cuomo who were starting to make their own plans about how to reopen their states are mutinous.
Public Health Service Needs Ready Reserve To Back-Fill Jobs, Advocates Say
Coronavirus Updates: Governors Unite, Trump Not Firing Fauci
By Ayesha Rascoe, Rob Stein & Quil Lawrence • Apr 13, 2020
Internal Emails Show VA Hospitals Are Rationing Protective Gear
The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the largest health care network in the country. Nine million vets are enrolled in VA health care, and recently, the department announced it would treat all veterans who need help during this crisis.
But VA health workers say they need help. At least seven VA staff have died from the virus, and NPR has seen internal emails telling VA staff to use the same surgical mask for up to a week.
Coronavirus Latest: Unemployment Numbers, Federal Guidelines For Local Governments
By Scott Horsley, Richard Harris & Quil Lawrence • Mar 26, 2020
The toll of the coronavirus pandemic is steep - hundreds of thousands of confirmed infections around the world, tens of thousands of lives lost.
New York Still Faces Looming Shortage Of Medical Equipment For Critical Care
By Quil Lawrence • Mar 25, 2020
New York Is One Of The States Bearing The Brunt Of COVID-19 Pandemic
NOEL KING, HOST:
New York State Goes 'On Pause,' Orders New Closings For Nonessential Businesses
VA Secretary Wilkie: 'We Are The Surge Force'
In an interview with NPR News, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie said the VA stands ready to back up the nation's health care system, but has not yet been asked to deploy resources by the Department of Health and Human Services.
"We have been preparing for what has been coming for a while now," Wilkie said. "In war and in case of natural disaster or an epidemic, we are the surge force."