Ed Offley has reported and written on military and defense issues for the past 25 years for a variety of print and online publications throughout the United States. He currently works for The News Herald in Panama City, Florida and is involved in a number of independent writing projects including Scorpion Down (Basic Books, 2007), an investigative history of the loss of the nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion (SSN 589) in 1968.

Prior to joining The News Herald in 2005, Offley served as founding Editor of DefenseWatch magazine at www.SFTT.org, an online publication that addresses military and security issues of concern to active-duty and reservist component personnel and veterans. During his tenure as Editor during 2001-2005, DefenseWatch broke a number of headline-generating stories about flaws in the Pentagon’s reserve callups for Operation Iraqi Freedom, including shortages in body armor for the troops. The publication’s website also played a direct supporting role in the disclosure of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Offley previously served as Editor-in-Chief of The Stars and Stripes during 2000-2001 after the civilian-owned newspaper was acquired by Stars and Stripes Omnimedia Inc. During his tenure at the newspaper, the reporting staff regularly broke major news stories, including an investigation of the Associated Press’ Pulitzer Prize-winning report on the alleged massacre of Korean civilians by American troops at the village of No Gun-ri in 1950 that called into question the veracity of several key sources cited in the AP report.

Prior to joining The Stars and Stripes in March 2000, Offley worked as Military Reporter for The Seattle Post‑Intelligencer since 1987, where he was responsible for coverage of military commands, units, operations and training exercises in Washington state and the Pacific Northwest region. During 1981-85, Offley was Associate Editorial Page Editor of The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, Va., specializing in military and defense issues. Other accomplishments include:

• Offley is a director of Military Reporters & Editors Inc., the national journalism organization, and helped found the organization in 2002.
  
  
• Offley is author of Pen & Sword: A Journalist’s Guide to Covering the Military (Marion Street Press, Oak Park, IL, December 2001).
  
  
• Offley is co-author (with retired Adm. William A. Owens, USN) of Lifting the Fog of War (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York City, Apr. 2000), an in-depth examination of the unfinished Revolution in Military Affairs and the current defense resource crisis.
  
  
• He has appeared on numerous national and regional television and radio shows to discuss military and defense issues, including Fox News, C-SPAN, CNN, National Public Radio and the Veterans Radio Network.
  
  
• During Operation Desert Storm, Offley covered the outbreak of the war and served in a media combat pool. He has covered military operations and exercises in 18 foreign countries, including the former Soviet Union, Somalia and South Korea.
  
  
• He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in beat reporting in 1996 for articles on a brain-injured former soldier who was released from a civilian jail and had his veterans benefits restored as a result of the coverage.

A 1969 graduate of the University of Virginia, Offley served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam before joining The Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, Va., as a reporter in 1972. He worked as an editorial writer at three newspapers in Virginia during 1977-85 before joining The Seattle Post‑Intelligencer as an editorial writer in 1986.

Offley, 59, lives in Panama City Beach, Fla., with his wife, Karen, and daughter, Andrea.