James LaPorta

Staff Writer

James LaPorta is a staff writer and investigative reporter covering national security with an emphasis on the Department of Defense. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2018, his past bylines, work, and commentary have appeared on and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, among others. Before transitioning to journalism in 2014, Mr. LaPorta served in the U.S. Marine Corps within the infantry and intelligence communities. He is a veteran of the Afghanistan war.

  
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 Trump on ISIS Fighters: Were They Killed or Captured? President Donald Trump said U.S. forces had killed the militants responsible for the January suicide bombing in Syria that claimed the lives of 19 people, among them four Americans, a day after...
  
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 Pentagon Mail Facility Evacuated “We can confirm the Pentagon mail facility received a suspicious package,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Audricia Harris, a Defense Department spokeswoman.
  
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 U.S.-Backed Forces Capture ISIS Fighters in Syria Suspects believed to be responsible for the January bombing that killed 19 people, including four American Defense Department officials, in Syria, have been captured.
  
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 U.S. Soldiers Accused of Selling Weapons to Cartel Sources told Newsweek that the U.S. Army attempted to keep the incident quiet since the soldiers’ arrest last November.
  
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 Marine's Death Reveals Military Failures “He dies every day...I’m just replaying the build-up,” Lynda Kiernan told Newsweek.
  
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 Top Air Force General: No Threat on Southern Border The general in charge of U.S. military operations in North America dodged questions Tuesday on what specific threat at the southern border justifies President Trump declaring a national emergency.
  
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 Military Probe: Did Army Officials Pocket $1 Million?  A U.S. State Department report has accused officials at U.S. Army Europe of trying to cover up the “gross mismanagement” of more than $1.4 million in American taxpayer dollars.
  
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 Former John Kelly Aide Considering 2020 Senate Run As the 2020 political campaigns begin to heat up the D.C. beltway, a retired U.S. Marine colonel considers a run for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat.
  
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 Ex-Marine Officer Headed to Prison for Revenge Porn A U.S. District Court sentenced an ex-U.S. Marine reserve officer to almost three years in prison on felony cyberstalking charges last week.
  
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 Green Beret Killed in Afghanistan On Wednesday, the Pentagon identified the second American to be killed in Afghanistan since President Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal of roughly 7,000 American forces from the region.
  
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 U.S. Army Ranger Killed in Afghanistan U.S. Army Sergeant Cameron A. Meddock, whose wife was expecting their first child, was on his second deployment to Afghanistan.
  
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 3 Americans Killed in Syria Suicide Bombing Identified The bombing came just weeks after President Donald Trump declared victory over ISIS and ordered a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.
  
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 Military Border Mission Could Cost $470 Million in 2019 The deployment of active-duty U.S. troops and National Guard forces to the U.S.-Mexico has been extended to September 30.
  
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 Trump Wants End to Wars, but Military Calls It Illusion The president wants to end America’s endless wars. Members of the military don’t disagree. They just wonder how best to withdraw—and what they fought for.
  
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 Trump's Video Did Not Violate Security Protocols Typically, the Defense Department does not usually discuss specific special operation units and where they are working at any given time out of operational security concerns.
  
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 Trump's Video Reveals Navy SEAL Deployment Trump and the White House communications team revealed a U.S. Navy SEAL deployment during the president's visit to U.S. troops in Iraq.
  
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 Israeli Attack On Damascus Focused On Iranian Targets The plane carrying several leaders of Hezbollah was bound for Iran.
  
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 Trump Forces Mattis Out Early, Appoints Ex-Boeing Exec Defense Department officials told Newsweek that Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan would be "great" for the military industrial complex but was not a strategic thinker.
  
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 Trump Decided to Withdraw From Syria a Week Ago President Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of troops from Syria, having informed his military officials after a call with the Turkish president regarding an arms deal and a potential...
  
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 New Ethics Guidance Issued to Special Operation Forces “We will not allow inexcusable and reprehensible violations of that trust to erode decades of honorable service, teamwork, and progress by the members of USSOCOM,” General Raymond Thomas III wrote to personnel in an email obtained by Newsweek.
  
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 Pentagon Identifies U.S. Troops Killed In Afghanistan The Pentagon on Wednesday identified the U.S. service members killed in central Afghanistan this week by a roadside bomb in what is the deadliest day for American forces so far this year.
  
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 Trump Slammed for Latest Transgender Military Ban Move The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court Friday to bypass the appellate courts and rule on the president’s policy of banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces.
  
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 Active Shooter Reported at Walter Reed Medical Center Maryland Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger was at the medical center at the time the alert was issued.
  
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 President Trump Approved Use of Force at Border As 400 military police officers from the U.S. Army redeployed to San Diego, the Trump administration approved the use of U.S. troops at the border for law enforcement tasks, permitting them to...
  
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 DHS Spies Are Among the Migrant Caravan Additionally, around 400 military police officers from the U.S. Army are set to be redeployed to San Diego as a caravan of migrants approaches the southern border.
  
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 Troops Not Briefed on Alleged 270 Criminal Migrants Both a current and former DHS official cast doubt on how the department came up with the figure while the caravan is still hundreds of miles away from the U.S. border.
  
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 Virginia Murder Tied To Marine Corps Birthday Ball Two U.S. Marines familiar with the incident told Newsweek that Rodolfo Rivera strangled his wife Natasha Rivera after the couple had returned to their hotel room.
  
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 US Army Soldier's Message to Americans before Midterms The eighth U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan this year was a city mayor and father of seven children.
  
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 Border Mission a Waste of Money: Pentagon Sources Many senior-level Defense Department officials believe the Trump administration's plan to send thousands of troops to the U.S. southern border was politically motivated and a waste of money, according to Newsweek's sources.
  
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 Troops Preparing for Armed Militias at Border "Remember, defending your nation’s sovereignty and its heralded stature as ‘a nation of laws’ does not make you a racist, a bigot, a xenophobe, a Nazi, a fascist," read a statement to its members from the Minutemen Project.
  
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 A Costly Show of Force on the Southern Border Leaked documents of Operation Faithful Patriot show where U.S. troops will deploy to reinforce the southern border as Central American migrants approach.
  
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 Military Prepared for Armed Confrontation at Border On Monday, Defense Secretary James Mattis and subordinate combatant commanders authorized troops heading to the border to carry live ammunition, according to the documents obtained by Newsweek