Kirk Spitzer

Kirk Spitzer is a veteran journalist and defense correspondent, based in Tokyo. He has covered nearly every major US military deployment since Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and has made more than a dozen reporting trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the first journalist to report from the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004, where he was embedded with US special operations forces. Spitzer has won numerous journalism awards, and is a frequent speaker at military-media symposiums. Before moving to Tokyo, he worked as defense correspondent for USA Today in Washington DC, and reporter/producer for CBS News in London. Spitzer has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Hawaii; he was also a Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and a Davenport Fellow at the University of Missouri.

Articles from Contributor

Battleland Battleland

Aussies Begin to Question U.S. Alliance

TOKYO – It was all smiles and bonhomie at the US-Australia defense meetings in San Francisco this month. But Down Under, there are growing calls for Australia to scale back its reliance on America in favor of – you guessed it – China.

“Australia can no longer assume that we can continue to exist in a world where we can …

Battleland Battleland

Getting the Story Out – Lessons From Fallujah

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_w2i0VDptM]

TOKYO – The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may be winding down, but news reporters still go out daily to cover US troops risking their lives in combat zones — stories that can serve the purposes of both news organizations and the military alike.

The Institute for Defense …

Battleland Battleland

Japan Worries About China Nukes

TOKYO – Never mind natural resources or national pride.

China’s rapid military modernization and aggressive territorial claims are rooted in the calculus of nuclear deterrence, according to defense analysts in Japan.

Sumihiko Kawamura, deputy director of the conservative Okazaki Institute in Tokyo, says China has claimed …

Battleland Battleland

Japan Worries About China – Later

TOKYO – For the second time since taking office this month, Prime Minister Yoshihoko Noda has warned about China’s military ambitions in the Far East.

“I am concerned about their reinforcement of national defense power, which lacks transparency, and their acceleration of maritime activities,” Noda said during debate in the …

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