Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent with The New York Times and a New York Times bestselling author. Working previously at the Wall Street Journal, Cooper was the foreign correspondent, reporter, and editor in the London, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta bureaus. For The New York Times, she covered the White House and was the diplomatic correspondent, reporting from 86 countries. Her autobiography, The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, is a New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle finalist. Cooper also wrote Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, bringing her unparalleled journalistic skills to this biography of the leader of the women’s movement in Liberia. Cooper’s high-level analysis of today’s most important issues, thoughtful insights, and unwavering pursuit of the truth makes for indelible conversations that will have an enduring impact.

Cooper has received numerous accolades for her work, including the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, an Overseas Press Club Award for International Reporting, and a George Polk Award for Health Reporting for her coverage of the Ebola crisis, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for International Journalism. She has appeared on Meet the Press, Washington Week, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Morning Joe, and This Week, and her stories appear in The New York Times.

Cooper briefed National Press Foundation fellows in February 2025: Helene Cooper on Covering the Pentagon in New Trump Term.