David Pugliese, a journalist with the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, has been writing about military affairs and the Canadian Armed Forces since 1982.

 

In the mid-1980s Pugliese was the Canadian correspondent for the Washington-based Armed Forces Journal International. Since 1990, in addition to his work at the Ottawa Citizen, he has worked as a correspondent for the weekly U.S. publication Defense News.

 

Pugliese’s reports from Bosnia and Croatia in 1995 earned him a National Newspaper Award nomination for international reporting. His examination of the 1996 Canadian Forces mission to Zaire resulted in an investigative reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists. That was followed a year later by a similar award for his article in Saturday Night magazine about a series of killings of civilians by police SWAT teams.

 

In 2002, Pugliese and colleague Jim Bronskill won the Canadian Association of Journalists’ top investigative journalism award for their series “The Criminalization of Dissent” which looked at attempts by the government and security agencies to stifle free speech and legitimate protest.

 

In 2002 Pugliese’s reporting on defence issues also earned him a National Newspaper Award, one of the most prestigious journalism awards in Canada. In May 2007 Pugliese accomplished the rare achievement of winning two National Newspaper Awards in one year; one of the awards was for his ongoing coverage of military affairs and the other was for his article on the politics behind Canada’s Afghanistan mission.

 

His freelance articles on military issues have appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Training and Simulation Journal, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Journal, Army Times, Air Force Times, International Combat Arms, the Canadian Defence Quarterly, National Defense magazine, the U.S. Navy League’s Seapower magazine, Saturday Night magazine and the Financial Times. He has provided commentary on defence issues for BBC Radio and RTE (Irish Radio), Global National TV, CTV News, CTV'S Canada AM, the CBC National and Newsworld and CBC Radio's Morningside.

 

In December 2007 he launched “David Pugliese’s Defence Watch” blog which looks at military developments affecting the Canadian Forces.

 

He is author of two best-selling books on special operations forces: “Canada’s Secret Commandos: the Unauthorized Story of Joint Task Force Two” which looks at the development, history and missions of the Canadian military’s JTF2 (Joint Task Force 2) counter-terrorism and special operations unit, as well as “Shadow Wars: Special Forces in the New Battle Against Terrorism” which details missions of a variety of SOF units including JTF2, the British SAS and SBS, U.S. Green Berets, Navy SEALS and Delta Force among others.

 

Pugliese’s assignments in the field have ranged from taking part in a mission on board a Strategic Air Command B-52 bomber to submarine operations on HMCS Victoria and HMCS Windsor to chronicling the training of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) and the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command’s (CANSOFCOM) joint nuclear, biological and chemical warfare unit.

 

His books and articles have been cited in such diverse works as “Canada’s Army” by Jack Granatstein, “Brassey’s Intelligence Yearbook” and “Security and Defence in the Terrorist Era” by Elinor Sloan to “Rushing to Armageddon” by Mel Hurtig and “Imperial Ambitions” by Noam Chomsky.

 

Pugliese has reported from war and conflict zones in Croatia, Bosnia, the Sudan, Burma, Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier, the Philippines, Haiti and the Gaza Strip.