Investigative Reporter Sonner Kehrt

U.S. Army paratroopers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, “Arctic Angels,” proceed to a staging area after completing airborne training at Malemute Drop Zone, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Dec. 8, 2023. Photo by Airman Raina Dale, courtesy of the U.S. Army.

US Military Can’t Sustain Arctic Operations, ‘Let Alone Dominate,’ Experts Say

by Sonner Kehrt January 18, 2024January 18, 2024

For years, the military and Congress have recognized the strategic importance of investing in Arctic capabilities. But change has been incredibly slow.

The Supreme Court heard arguments last year in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Limited, which challenges how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded. The court is expected to release its decision this spring. Photo by Mark Thomas.

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Military, Vets Depend on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its Future Is Uncertain.

by Sonner Kehrt January 11, 2024January 14, 2026

Military families depend on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to combat predatory financial institutions. A Supreme Court case may decide its future.

The Army Honor Guard meets Saria Hildabrand’s body as it arrives in Utah. Photo courtesy of Meredith Barney.

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Short Changed: Military Comes with Unique Risks for Domestic Violence, Can Silence Survivors

by Sonner Kehrt and Anne Marshall-Chalmers November 30, 2023January 22, 2026

A War Horse review of military women’s noncombat deaths since 9/11 found domestic violence often ended in death.

Midshipmen march to lunch at the U.S. Naval Academy during the National Discussion on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at America’s Colleges, Universities, and Service Academies in 2019. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas, courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

Reflections

Short Changed: Military Women’s Deaths by Suicide Linked to Sexual Trauma

by Sonner Kehrt November 16, 2023July 25, 2025

While men in the military have alarmingly high rates of suicide, the rates among military women are rising faster, and their reasons are different.

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US Military Pledges Principled, Responsible Approach to Artificial Intelligence

by Sonner Kehrt and Eden Stratton October 12, 2023January 14, 2026

The Pentagon is a lumbering bureaucracy where priorities can shift with political tides, which makes the trajectory of progress on AI unclear.

A plaque on an 85-foot-tall obelisk to the Confederate dead in Finn’s Point National Cemetery in New Jersey shows the federal government erected the monument in 1910. Veterans Affairs maintains it. Photo by Michaele Kehrt for The War Horse.

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‘A False Memory’–As Confederate Monuments Topple, Some at VA Cemeteries Still Loom Large

by Sonner Kehrt and Randee Howard September 13, 2023January 15, 2026

Confederate monuments across the U.S. have been relocated or toppled in recent years, but those at Veterans Affairs national cemeteries remain.

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Her Flight Instructor Sexually Harassed Her. The Marine Corps Tried to Kick Her Out.

by Sonner Kehrt August 18, 2023January 20, 2026

Flight students and instructors painted the naval aviation training program as a training environment that can be toxic for certain students.

A cartoon from 1969 promotes President Richard Nixon’s plan to study an all-volunteer force. Image courtesy of the Defense Department.

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For 50 Years, Recruiting a Volunteer Military Was Salesmanship. Now, Few Are Buying.

by Sonner Kehrt July 27, 2023

Young people report they don’t want to be killed or face the psychological consequences they saw in soldiers on the news as they grew up.

Pvt. William A. Reynolds, an ambulance driver, exhibits a .50-caliber machine-gun bullet that lodged above the windshield of his vehicle when he was strafed by a German plane while driving at the front in France in 1944. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

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Black Veterans Have Always Fought Two Wars, Battling the Enemy Abroad and Prejudice at Home

by Sonner Kehrt June 19, 2023July 25, 2025

American servicemen and women returned from war to bigotry, exclusion, and overt racial violence—precisely because they had chosen to serve their country.

Newsroom

America Faces a Tidal Wave of Aging Veterans, Including a 237% Increase in Women Over 65 by 2041

by Sonner Kehrt June 1, 2023July 25, 2025

As Vietnam and Gulf War-era veterans age, they bring with them new needs, different expectations for care, and greater diversity than those who came before.