T. Christian Miller

Reporter

Photo of T. Christian Miller

T. Christian Miller is a reporter for ProPublica. In more than 25 years as a professional journalist and foreign correspondent, Miller has covered four wars, a presidential campaign and reported from more than two dozen countries. He has won numerous accolades for his work in the U.S. and abroad, including two Pulitzer Prizes: one in 2016 for Explanatory Reporting, which he shared with co-author Ken Armstrong for coverage of sexual assault; and a second in 2020 for National Reporting, which he shared with colleagues Robert Faturechi and Megan Rose for coverage of the U.S. Navy. In 2015, he won two Emmy Awards for his work with Marcela Gaviria on a PBS Frontline Documentary about the link between the Firestone tire company and the Liberian war criminal Charles Taylor. Miller’s work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, PBS Frontline, PBS Newshour, NPR and All Thing Considered, among other major media outlets.

As an investigative journalist, Miller specializes in the military and international affairs. He has extensive experience with public records, the Freedom of Information Act and data-driven reporting. In 2011, Miller was awarded a yearlong Knight Fellowship to study at Stanford University. He has lectured at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Southern California, Columbia and Duke, among other schools. Miller has served as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and as a member and treasurer of the Board of Directors for Investigative Reporters & Editors.

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Miller was the only journalist in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to covering the reconstruction process. Miller's groundbreaking work led to the expulsion of a top Pentagon official, the cancellation of a major arms contract and the initiation of several investigations. His work on traumatic brain injuries in the military led the U.S. Army to award Purple Hearts for such wounds. In 2006, Miller published Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq (Little, Brown), which the Washington Post called one of the “indispensable” books on the Iraq war. In 2018, Miller and Armstrong published A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America (Crown Books), described as a “riveting true-crime story” by O: The Oprah Magazine. Their work was the basis for the Netflix miniseries Unbelievable, which won a Peabody Award and attracted 32 million viewers worldwide.

Miller was a foreign correspondent based in Bogotá, Colombia where he covered that nation's guerrilla conflict and its connection to Washington's war on drugs. While there, he was briefly captured and held hostage by leftist guerrillas. Miller graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with highest honors. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children.

U.N. Has Flown More Than $2.9 Billion in Cash to Afghanistan Since the Taliban Seized Power, Diverting U.S. Funds

The U.S. State Department has previously said that no U.S. funds went to the militant group, but a new federal report indicates that some taxpayer money has ended up in the Taliban-controlled central bank of Afghanistan.

After Promising to Make Government Health Care Data More Accessible, the Biden Administration Now Wants to Clamp Down

Researchers across the country fear a new proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will increase fees and decrease access to data used to support major health care reforms.

Mexican President Demands Apology From Biden After ProPublica Story on Suspected Cartel Campaign Donation

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico calls a ProPublica reporter a “mercenary” after our report on a DEA investigation that found drug money may have played a role in his first presidential campaign.

Big Insurance Met Its Match When It Turned Down a Top Trial Lawyer’s Request for Cancer Treatment

Blue Cross and Blue Shield denied payment for the proton therapy Robert “Skeeter” Salim’s doctor ordered to fight his throat cancer. But he was no ordinary patient. He was a celebrated litigator. And he was ready to fight.

Editors’ Note: Why We Investigated the Treatment of People With Developmental Disabilities

Arizona’s treatment of people with developmental disabilities is important because it impacts tens of thousands of people. But for us, it’s also personal.

Editors’ Note: Why We Wrote About the Way People With Developmental Disabilities Get Treated

How Arizona treats people with developmental disabilities is important. It affects a lot of people. It is personal for us too.

U.S. Marine Corps Concludes Its Investigation Into a Fatal 2018 Midair Crash Was Inaccurate

A new review reexamined the December 2018 crash after a ProPublica investigation revealed that Marines had been deprived of adequate training and equipment, and that their repeated pleas for help from superiors before the crash went unaddressed.

It’s Hardly Shocking the Navy Fired a Commander for Warning of Coronavirus Threat. It’s Part of a Pattern.

In dismissing the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy once again punished the messenger, a frontline leader brave enough to tell the unvarnished truth to superiors about a threat to his sailors.

After Discovering a Sailor With Coronavirus, the U.S. Navy Crowded Dozens Into One Room

On the USS Boxer, where the Navy discovered its first case of coronavirus on a ship, a sailor says his superiors called a meeting that crammed more than 80 senior enlisted sailors and officers together.

Warship Accidents Left Sailors Traumatized. The Navy Struggled to Treat Them.

Recent wars have forced the U.S. military to acknowledge and treat the psychological wounds caused by trauma. But some sailors who survived 2017’s deadly crashes say the Navy’s efforts to help them sometimes fell short.

Trump Says U.S. Is Ready for War. Not All His Troops Are So Sure.

A series of accidents calls the military’s preparedness into question.

Faulty Equipment, Lapsed Training, Repeated Warnings: How a Preventable Disaster Killed Six Marines

Marine commanders did not act on dozens of pleas for additional manpower, machinery and time. When a training exercise ended in death, leadership blamed the very men they had neglected.

The Navy Installed Touch-Screen Steering Systems to Save Money. 10 Sailors Paid With Their Lives.

When the USS John S. McCain crashed in the Pacific, the Navy blamed the destroyer’s crew for the loss of 10 sailors. The truth is the Navy’s flawed technology set the McCain up for disaster.

Netflix Series Based on Our Work Explores Costs of Not Believing Rape Victims

The series, “Unbelievable,” draws from our award-winning reporting with The Marshall Project and “This American Life.”

Iran Has Hundreds of Naval Mines. U.S. Navy Minesweepers Find Old Dishwashers and Car Parts.

As tensions heat up in the Persian Gulf, the Navy’s minesweeping fleet may once again be called into action, but its sailors say the ships are too old and broken to do the job. “We are essentially the ships that the Navy forgot.”

Trump Keeps Talking About the Last Military Standoff With Iran — Here’s What Really Happened

In 2016, 10 sailors were captured by Iran. Trump is making it a political issue. Our investigation shows that it was a Navy failure, and the problems run deep.

How the Navy’s Top Commander Botched the Highest-Profile Investigation in Years

On Wednesday, the Navy said it was abandoning all remaining criminal charges against sailors involved in fatal accidents in the Pacific. Here’s how the actions of the chief of naval operations helped doom the cases.

If Trump’s Border Wall Becomes Reality, Here’s How He Could Easily Get Private Land for It

A law is supposed to protect property owners from lowball offers by the government when it takes land through eminent domain. But a letter shows how simple it is for officials to eviscerate what is already a pretty toothless law.

An Admiral Told a Senator Most Navy Reforms Were “Complete.” Navy’s No. 2 Says Otherwise.

Adm. Bill Moran told ProPublica this week that none of the promised reforms had been completed, but that work had started on the pledges.

Navy Leaders Taken to Task by Lawmakers, Including One Who Was Grilling a Former Boss

Rep. Elaine Luria, an ex-Navy commander, showed her insider knowledge of naval operations in questions to the admirals appearing before a House Armed Services Committee panel.

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