The Modern War Institute recently hosted Sean Naylor for an MWI Speaker Series event. Naylor is the author of Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda and the New York Times best seller Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command. He worked for twenty-three years as a writer for Army Times. He has spent much of his career—beginning with a trip as a freelance reporter to Afghanistan and Pakistan while still a journalism student—reporting from combat zones including Somalia, Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
In the discussion, Naylor shares insights gained from his experience covering wars and the men and women who fight them. He also explores the unique role of the media on the battlefield and what he sees as an important contribution journalists and authors can make. The press, he says, “exists in large part to investigate and report back to the American people what its government is doing.” That role is perhaps most important when the government sends its military forces to war.
Watch the full video of his remarks below.