 From 2000 to 2004, Chan wrote for "The Washington Post", where he covered municipal politics, poverty and social services, and education.He was the co-author of a four-part investigative series about the treatment of juvenile delinquents in the District of Columbia, and won praise from the Society for American Archivists for his investigation into conditions at the District of Columbia Archives.He also covered the conflict in Iraq for the Post's Baghdad bureau.