I Was a Sympathetic Ear and an Empathic Ear

Matthew Cole is the author of Code Over Country: The Tragedy and Corruption of SEAL Team 6.

Matthew has covered national security since 2005 for U.S. television networks and print outlets. He has reported extensively on the CIA’s post-9/11 transformation, including identifying and locating a secret CIA prison in Lithuania used to interrogate Al Qaeda detainees. Since 2005, Cole has traveled extensively in Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover conflict and investigate U.S. intelligence operations.

For six years, Cole worked as an investigative producer for ABC and NBC News. At each network, Cole broke several stories of global significance. Among the subjects he has reported on are Blackwater’s covert work with the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command; the Raymond Davis affair in Pakistan; the death of Osama bin Laden; missing Libyan surface-to-air missiles after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi; classified CIA documents related to its drone program; and a SEAL Team 6 raid in Somalia.

For NBC News, Cole worked closely with Glenn Greenwald to report stories based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden and secured the only American television interview with Snowden.