Caitlin Dickerson
Caitlin Dickerson is an NPR News Investigative Reporter. She tackles long-term reporting projects that reveal hidden truths about the world, and contributes to breaking news coverage on NPR's flagship programs. Her work has been honored with some of the highest awards in broadcast journalism, including a George Foster Peabody Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2015, Dickerson was also a finalist for the Livingston Award.
In 2015, her investigation into Secret World War II Mustard Gas Experiments uncovered new details about chemical weapons testing the U.S. government conducted on minority soldiers to look for racial differences that could be exploited in battle. The investigation showed that for decades, the Department of Veterans Affairs had been systematically denying compensation to test subjects who sustained injuries. The series of reports led U.S. government officials to admit, for the first time, to the race-based testing program, and resulted in the introduction of legislation that would make it easier for test subjects to secure VA compensation.
Dickerson has contributed reporting to NPR's coverage of major domestic and international news stories, including the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in Orlando, Florida in 2016. In 2014, she reported from the U.S. on the West African Ebola outbreak, with stories about military efforts to prevent the spread of the virus on American soil, and the ethics of a push by American scientists to deploy an experimental vaccine in West Africa. She also contributed to NPR's New Boom series that explored the Millennial generation's impact on America.
Dickerson came to NPR in 2011 after graduating Magna Cum Laude from California State University, Long Beach, where she earned a bachelor's degree in International Studies and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Before joining NPR's Investigations Team, she worked as a producer and editor on Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. Among her more memorable contributions are a series on addiction and a deep look at diversity in the television industry, which won a National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award in 2014.
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Sometimes violent protests have followed the deaths of African-American men at the hands of white police officers. But community leaders in Baton Rouge are instead focusing on political action. -
The fatal police shooting of 37-year-old black man Alton Sterling sparked protests in Baton Rouge, La., on Wednesday. The Justice Department continues its civil rights investigation into the shooting.
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The attack at a Florida nightclub played out for more than three dramatic hours. Survivors, doctors and law enforcement officials recap the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. -
Many veterans used in secret U.S. military experiments during World War II weren't notified they could apply for compensation. Claire McCaskill's bill calls for a new policy for processing claims. -
Charles Cavell spent decades fighting for VA compensation, even after he and others — who had been sworn to secrecy by the U.S. military — helped bring the testing program to light. He was 89. -
After conviction, noncitizens face deportation in a second system of justice that has different rules and fewer protections. NPR followed one man — and his family — through the process. -
In response to an NPR investigation, Sen. Claire McCaskill says the VA has "shown no urgency in addressing 70 years of appalling mistreatment of these men."
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The World War II military experiments exposed more than 60,000 American troops. But because the testing was classified, many family members of veterans never learned the details of what happened. -
Members of Congress have written to the secretary of defense asking him to tell black, Puerto Rican and Japanese-American soldiers that they were unjustly chosen for experiments in WWII.
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Just like World War II vets who were exposed to mustard gas during secret chemical testing, Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange had trouble obtaining VA benefits — until they got the law changed.
