Today journalist Barton Gellman joins the leadership team of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law as Senior Advisor. He will work with the organization’s experts to respond to the threats of abuse of power and the assault on democratic institutions that may follow the presidential election.
Gellman’s article about the weaponization of the Justice Department is the cover story of the current Atlantic. He is stepping down as a staff writer there to join the Brennan Center. A multiple Pulitzer Prize winner, Gellman is the author most recently of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency and Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, both published by Penguin Random House. He is a visiting lecturer at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Gellman’s prescient 2020 Atlantic cover story issued an early and influential warning of the risks that Donald Trump would seek to stay in power even if he lost. Before The Atlantic, Gellman was a Washington Post reporter. In his 21 years there, he served as a correspondent in the Middle East as well as a diplomatic, legal, and military correspondent. He anchored the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the revelations of Edward Snowden. Previously he was awarded Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting on Vice President Cheney and as part of the team covering the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Gellman served as a fellow at the Brennan Center a decade ago.
In his new role at the Brennan Center, Gellman will collaborate with Brennan Center experts on strategy for the pre- and post-election period, including public strategies to anticipate, prevent, and address autocratic initiatives in the next presidential administration. The Center is a leading national voice on democracy issues including election integrity, safeguarding election officials, voting rights, and presidential emergency powers, among other topics….