Tara Copp Email and Phone Number

I cover Pentagon leadership and the service chiefs for Military Times Newspapers. I travel with both Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford to report on the Trump administration's national security policy. I regularly FOIA the Pentagon for aviation safety records to examine readiness issues across rotary and fixed aircraft for all the services.

I provided in-depth coverage of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force aviation challenges. I also regularly traveled with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to report on the Obama administration's national security decisions regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and the Asia-Pacific region.

Body of published GAO work includes audits on supply chain issues in Afghanistan; U.S. force preparation for the drawdown of equipment and forces from Afghanistan; an audit of the State Department’s plans on the transition to a civilian presence in Iraq; a follow-on report on the execution of that plan; an audit of Navy readiness challenges and an audit of the Missile Defense Agency’s plans for interceptors in Europe. Extensive travel to the Middle East, including a long-term TDY in Baghdad in 2011, where I represented GAO at the U.S. Embassy.

I served on a year-long detail from the GAO to assist the Committee in its role to provide oversight of critical defense issues for the 113th Congress.

Reported on the Texas Congressional delegation for Corpus Christi, Wichita Falls, Abilene and San Angelo. Focused on military and agricultural news. Assigned as one of the original 600 embedded reporters covering the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Traveled to Baghdad, Mosul, Erbil, Tallil, and Fallujah to cover missions carried out by the soldiers, sailors and airmen from those military towns.