Spencer Ackerman is an American journalist and writer. Focusing primarily on national security, he began his career at The New Republic in 2002 before writing for Wired, The Guardian and The Daily Beast. He won a 2012 National Magazine Award for reporting on biased FBI training materials and shared in a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 2013 global surveillance disclosures. His book Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump was named a best nonfiction book of 2021 by The New York Times, The Washington Post and Foreign Policy. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family on June 1, 1980, Ackerman grew up in a politically active household and started attending protests at age ten. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1998 and Rutgers University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. While writing for Rutgers' student newspaper, The Daily Targum, he earned a Certificate of Merit from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in news writing for his coverage of the recount in Florida following the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Ackerman also worked for the New York Press, a free alternative weekly. Career Following his graduation from Rutgers, Ackerman moved to Washington, D.C. to join The New Republic where he covered national security. In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Ackerman said witnessing the September 11 attacks influenced his decision to cover national security, which he viewed as the most important issue facing the nation at the time. With colleague John Judis, he cowrote an article that led to the Plame affair. Initially a supporter of the invasion of Iraq, Ackerman became disillusioned and, beginning in January 2004, expressed opposition to the conflict in Iraq'd, a blog dedicated to covering post invasion developments in the country. He worked at The New Republic (TNR) until 2006, when he started a blog titled Too Hot for TNR and was fired over what he described as irreconcilable ideological differences. Editor Franklin Foer said he fired Ackerman for insubordination and disparaging the magazine on his blog. Ackerman next began writing for The American Prospect as well as Talking Points Memo. In a column for The Wall Street Journal, Marie Beaudette named Ackerman as part of a "blogging elite" in Washington, D.C.. Ackerman also contributed to the Washington Monthly on national security. The Washington Independent and Attackerman In December 2007,