Craig Whitlock

Washington, D.C.

Investigative reporter

Education: Duke University, AB in history

Craig Whitlock is an investigative reporter who specializes in national security issues. He has covered the Pentagon, served as the Berlin bureau chief and reported from more than 60 countries. He joined The Washington Post in 1998.
Latest from Craig Whitlock

‘Fat Leonard’ faces sentencing as epic Navy scandal nears end

Under plea agreement, the con man behind the most extensive corruption scandal in U.S. military history could be released from prison in as little as one year.

November 1, 2024
Leonard Glenn Francis, left, with Adm. Samuel Locklear III, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command between 2012 and 2015. Francis, a Malaysian defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” owned a Singapore-based firm that supplied U.S. Navy vessels in Asia for a quarter-century. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

Washington Post publisher retains ties to past business ventures

William Lewis holds a stake in a start-up that has reached a deal with The Post to collaborate. The Post said the arrangement conforms with its conflict-of-interest policy.

June 22, 2024
William Lewis, CEO and publisher of The Washington Post, in November.

Fat Leonard bribery cases fall apart because of prosecution blunders

One Navy officer confessed to leaking military secrets for $105,000 in bribes and prostitutes. But instead of going to prison, he may get away with his crimes.

May 20, 2024
A paralegal dyes Leonard Francis’s hair while he prepares for a debriefing by federal agents in the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego in 2015. In reward for his cooperation, the Malaysian defense contractor was permitted to hire staff who gave him manicures, pedicures and foot rubs.

How Fat Leonard compromised admirals in charge of Navy intelligence

Book excerpt: The Malaysian con man tempted admirals Ted “Twig” Branch and Bruce Loveless with cigars, meals and women — creating a counterintelligence disaster

May 7, 2024

Book excerpt: The admiral who had a mental breakdown over Fat Leonard

Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau, known as ‘Crazy Bob,’ had a mental breakdown in Afghanistan. His staff accused him of faking PTSD to dodge an epic corruption scandal.

May 6, 2024

Mattis secretly advised Arab monarch on Yemen war, records show

Retired General Jim Mattis worked for the UAE crown prince as a military adviser, but concealed that history from the public when he returned to the Pentagon

February 6, 2024

Fat Leonard thought he was going free. Now he’s locked up in Miami.

Leonard Francis, the U.S. fugitive and celebrated con man, thought Venezuela was giving him his freedom. Instead, he was put on a plane back to the U.S.

December 21, 2023
Adm. Jonathan Greenert with Leonard Glenn Francis on September 2011 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Who is ‘Fat Leonard,’ the fugitive Venezuela turned over to the U.S.?

The 59-year-old Malaysian citizen escaped U.S. custody last year days before he was to be sentenced in the biggest military corruption scandal in the nation’s history.

December 20, 2023
Defense contractor Francis Leonard Glenn in September 2022.

Venezuela hands over ‘Fat Leonard,’ mastermind in U.S. Navy scandal

Leonard Francis, who admitted guilt in the largest corruption scandal in U.S. military history, is to be extradited to the United States in a major prisoner swap.

December 20, 2023
Pedestrians in Caracas walk past a poster demanding freedom for Colombian businessman and Venezuelan special envoy Alex Saab.

Unapologetic ex-ambassador avoids prison in illicit lobbying case

Richard Olson, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and the UAE, sentenced to three years probation for illegally lobbying on behalf of Qatar

September 15, 2023
Richard G. Olson Jr., as U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, testifies at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in December 2015. Olson on Friday could have received up to six months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines in the lobbying and ethics case.