about the author
Shane Harris
Investigative Journalist and Author of The Watchers
Shane Harris is an award-winning author and magazine journalist. His critically-acclaimed book The Watchers tells the story of five men who played central roles in some of the most important and controversial national security programs of the past quarter century (Penguin Press, 2010). The Watchers won the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Economist named it one of the best books of 2010.
Shane is the winner of the 2010 Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense. He has four times been named a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists, which honor the best journalists in America under the age of 35. He is currently senior writer at Washingtonian magazine. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Daily Beast, TheAtlantic.com, National Journal, The Washington Post, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings. He is a frequent guest on national and international radio and television programs, and his work has been cited by other media organizations and journalists, including The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, Wired, and Ted Koppel at the Discovery Channel. He has provided analysis and commentary for CNN, the BBC, The History Channel, NPR, and many local public radio stations.
Many of Shane’s stories are about the inner workings of the U.S. intelligence community, and particularly those individuals who’ve spent their careers on the front lines of national security. He has broken several important stories, including the transfer of the controversial Total Information Awareness program into a secret intelligence agency; foreign penetration of computer networks that control parts of the U.S. electrical grid; cyber espionage directed at American business executives and government officials; classified ties between private security companies and U.S. law enforcement; and key elements of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.
In the course of his journalism career, Shane has written about a range of other topics, including diplomacy, technology, government contracting, and the U.S. reconstruction program in Iraq. Prior to joining Washingtonian, in 2010, Shane was a staff correspondent for National Journal for five years. Before that post, he was the technology editor and a staff correspondent at Government Executive magazine, the premiere publication covering management in the federal government. Shane also was the managing editor for Movieline magazine in Los Angeles, for which he covered the film industry and oversaw the work of the publication’s editorial staff and its Web site. Shane began his journalism career in 1999, as the research coordinator and a writer for Governing magazine in Washington, where he covered issues and trends affecting state and local government officials nationwide.
Shane graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in Politics in 1998. He is also a fiction writer. While living in Los Angeles, he helped found and served as the artistic director of a sketch comedy troupe. Shane is a Sundance Film Festival screenwriting finalist. For his work on Chinese cyber espionage, Shane received an honorable mention from the judges of the Edgar A. Poe Award, given by the White House Correspondents’ Association for excellence in coverage of news of national or regional significance.
Press Links
"From Shane Harris, the People Who Read Our Email"
The New York Times
An Interview with Shane Harris
Democracy Now!
"The Watchers, by Shane Harris"
San Francisco Chronicle
"The Watchers Draws Glowing Portrait of Überspook"
Wired
"Watchers author Shane Harris sees increased surveillance unavoidable but dangerous"
Washington Examiner
"Debating The Watchers"
Slate
Featured Book
The Watchers
"The Watchers provides an insightful glimpse into how Washington works and how ideas are marketed and sold in the back rooms of power, whether the product being peddled is widgets or a radical model for intelligence gathering."
—The New York Times
Speaking Topics
- National Security and Terrorism
- The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State
- Cyber Security
- The Politics of National Security
- The Business of National Security
View Topic Descriptions »
Speaking Topics — Shane Harris
National Security and Terrorism
A behind-the-scenes look at America’s daily struggle to defend against terrorist attacks, told trough insightful reporting and riveting stories about those on the front-line of this expansive mission. How safe is the country today? And what risk does the government pose to individual liberty and privacy?
The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State
A gripping, non-fiction spy thriller that tells the story of how a handful of people built, ran, and eventually tried to tear down a massive system of electronic surveillance in the United States. The book shows how the government’s strategy for “connecting the dots” about terrorist attacks has made it harder to catch real terrorists but easier to spy on the rest of us.
Cyber Security
The new frontier of national security is the Internet. Now more than ever, the government is playing a leading role in defending private computer systems from foreign spies and attackers. Shane uses his path-breaking reporting to explain the cyber threat in a clear, compelling way. Key areas of insight include: industrial espionage by hacker groups; the rise cyber warfare; America’s offensive capabilities in cyberspace; and the risk that a foreign adversary could cripple the United States’ electrical, financial, and transportation systems.
The Politics of National Security
A front-line view from Washington about how partisan politics are shaping our security, and usually not for the better. Shane shares insights from his years of reporting on people and power in the nation’s capital.
The Business of National Security
Drawing on his many years of reporting about security and government contracting, Shane explains how U.S. corporations and the government have forged an alliance for fighting wars and defending against terrorist attacks. He explains how this unusual business came to pass, as well as its inherent benefits and risks.
Please contact us for booking requirements and availability.