David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger (born July 5, 1960) is an American journalist who is the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, writing since 1982, covering foreign policy, globalization, nuclear proliferation, and the presidency.

He has been a member of three teams that won the Pulitzer Prize, and has been awarded numerous honors for national security and foreign policy coverage.

He is the author of four books: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age, and New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West.

Sanger is the son of Joan (née Samuels) and Kenneth E. Sanger. His mother worked as assistant coordinator in the White Plains Public School District and his father was a product manager for International Business Machines. His paternal grandfather was Elliott Sanger, a co-founder of WQXR-FM, the radio station of The New York Times; and his paternal grandmother was Eleanor Naumburg Sanger (grandniece of banker Elkan Naumburg), who served as program director of WQXR. He has one sister, Ellin Gail Sanger Agress.

He graduated from White Plains Senior High School in 1978. There, he was editor of The Orange, the student newspaper. He graduated magna cum laude in government from Harvard College, where he was on the staff of The Harvard Crimson.

Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times and one of the newspaper's senior writers. In a 42-year career at the paper, he has reported from New York, Tokyo, and Washington, specializing in foreign policy, national security, and the politics of globalization.

In 1982, after joining The New York Times, Sanger soon began specializing in the confluence of economic and foreign policy.

In 1986 Sanger played a major role in the team that investigated the causes of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The team revealed the design flaws and bureaucratic troubles that contributed to the disaster and won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.