Daren Briscoe joined NEWSWEEK in July, 2004 as a Correspondent in the Washington Bureau, where he provides national and regional coverage of breaking news, immigration, race, social policy and law enforcement.  At NEWSWEEK, Briscoe has covered Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans, the rise of online "Netbanging" by computer-savvy gang members, and the federal witness protection program's struggles to protect younger witnesses.  In 2005, he was the recipient of a 2005 Lincoln University Unity Award for his reporting role in "The Audacity of Hope," a profile of Senator Barack Obama.  Prior to joining NEWSWEEK, Briscoe worked at the Los Angeles Times between September, 2001 and July, 2004 as a general assignment and local government reporter, and contributed to a 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning series about a troubled public hospital.  He also interned at Newsday (Long Island), Media General News Service (Washington, D.C.), The Children's Advocate Newspaper (Oakland) and NBC-affiliate KRON-TV (San Francisco).  A native Los Angeleno, he holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors in 2001.  Briscoe lives in DC with his wife, Rochelle.