{{short description|American journalist (born 1946)}} {{infobox person |name=Elaine Shannon |birth_date={{birth date and age|1946|11|16}} |birth_place=[[Gainesville, Georgia]], U.S. |alma_mater=[[Vanderbilt University]]<br />[[Harvard University]] |occupation=Investigative journalist |spouse=Dan Morgan |children=1 |website={{URL|https://www.elaine-shannon.com}} }} '''Elaine Shannon''' (born November 16, 1946) is an American [[investigative journalist]] and former correspondent for ''[[Newsweek]]'' and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' considered an expert on [[terrorism]], [[organized crime]], and [[espionage]].<ref name="HarperCollins Publishers">{{cite web |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/elaine-shannon |title=Elaine Shannon |author=HarperCollins Publishers |author-link=HarperCollins |website=harpercollins.com |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> Describing her also as "a leading expert on the evil alliances of drug kingpins and corrupt officials", ''Newsweek'' said Shannon "could rightly claim to be the [[James Boswell|Boswell]] of thugs and drugs."<ref name="Newsweek; February 22, 2019">{{cite news |last=Schilling |first=Mary Kaye |date=February 22, 2019 |title=Global Crime's Shadowy Cyber Genius Revealed in Elaine Shannon's New Book, 'Hunting LeRoux' |url=https://www.newsweek.com/paul-leroux-elaine-shannon-hunting-leroux-books-1337516 |work=Newsweek |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Early life== Shannon was born in [[Gainesville, Georgia]], on November 16, 1946.<ref name="cnn.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/bios/frames/time/dc.bureau/shannon.html |title=Elaine Shannon|author-link=CNN |department=AllPolitics |website=cnn.com |publisher=CNN |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> She was an [[English major]] at [[Vanderbilt University]] where she graduated in 1968.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="Vanderbilt News">{{cite news |last1=Patterson |first1=Jim |last2=Read |first2=Jan |date=August 20, 2019 |title=On the Hunt: Elaine Shannon, BA'68, Investigative Journalist |url=https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2019/08/20/on-the-hunt-elaine-shannon-ba68-investigative-journalist/ |work=Vanderbilt News |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> While a senior at Vanderbilt, Shannon began working for the ''[[Nashville Tennessean]]'' where she reported on [[civil rights]], [[police brutality in the United States|police brutality]], and [[prisoner abuse]].<ref name="cnn.com"/> In 1970 Shannon became the newspaper's [[Washington, D.C.]], correspondent and covered the Senatorial campaign of [[Albert Gore Sr.]], the Presidential campaigns of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign|George McGovern]], and the [[Watergate scandal]].<ref name="cnn.com"/> She spent a year at [[Harvard University]] where in 1974 she earned a [[Nieman Fellowship]] in journalism, then went to work for ''[[Newsday]]'' the following year.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="Vanderbilt News"/>
==Career== According to CNN, Shannon "has covered criminal justice issues, including international arms trafficking, drug trafficking and money laundering, organized crime, white collar crime, terrorism and espionage" since 1976.<ref name="cnn.com"/> She frequently speaks on issues related to [[drug trafficking]].<ref name="cnn.com"/> Through her reporting, Shannon has built "an extensive network of sources as she covered the FBI, DEA, Customs and Justice departments, intelligence and terrorism."<ref name="Vanderbilt News"/>
She joined ''Newsweek'' in 1976 and covered the Presidential campaigns of [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Walter Mondale]].<ref name="cnn.com"/> In October 1986, she left ''Newsweek'' to finish writing her [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' best-selling book]] about the drug trade, ''Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can't Win''.<ref name="cnn.com"/>
In April 1987, Shannon joined ''Time'' where she was a correspondent in their Washington, D.C., bureau.<ref name="cnn.com"/> She became a panelist on [[PBS]]'s ''[[To the Contrary]]'' in 1993.<ref name="cnn.com"/>
==Books== Shannon is the author of four books. Her first, ''Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can't Win'', sold over 130,000 copies.<ref name="cnn.com"/> ''Publishers Weekly'' stated that Shannon drew on 10 years of expertise covering the international drug scene for ''Newsweek'' to write about the 1985 [[torture murder|torture-murder]] of [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] agent [[Kiki Camarena|Enrique "Kiki" Camarena]].<ref name="Publishers Weekly">{{cite web|title=Desperados|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-81026-0|work=publishersweekly.com|publisher=Publishers Weekly|access-date=October 8, 2020|author=Publishers Weekly|author-link=Publishers Weekly|date=October 1, 1988}}</ref> In his review for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [[Jonathan Kirsch]] called ''Desperados'' "a sock-in-the-eye work of reporting about America's losing struggle against the multinational, multibillion-dollar drug industry" <ref name="Los Angeles Times; November 30, 1988">{{cite news |last=Kirsch |first=Jonanthan |author-link=Jonathan Kirsch |date=November 30, 1988 |title=Book Review : 'Desperados'--a War We May Not Win |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-11-30-vw-509-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> ''Desperados'' also served as the basis for [[Michael Mann]]'s three-part miniseries ''[[Drug Wars: The Camarena Story]]'' broadcast on [[NBC]] in January 1990.<ref name="cnn.com"/> The [[docudrama]] received an [[Emmy award]] as the best miniseries of 1990.<ref name="cnn.com"/> A second miniseries based on ''Desperados'', ''Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel'', was broadcast on NBC in January 1992 was also nominated for an Emmy for best miniseries of 1992.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="elaine-shannon.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.elaine-shannon.com/new-page-5 |title=About the Author |website=elaine-shannon.com |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref>
''No Heroes: Inside the FBI's Secret Counter-Terror Force'' was written with Deputy Assistant Director of the [[FBI]] [[Danny Coulson]] and ''The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen'' was co-authored by journalist [[Ann Blackman]].<ref name="elaine-shannon.com"/>
Shannon's fourth book, ''Hunting LeRoux'', was published in 2019 by [[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]]/[[HarperCollins]].<ref name="Vanderbilt News"/> The story discusses [[Paul Le Roux]] and the DEA's elite special operation group that tracked him in an effort to bring down his global criminal enterprise.<ref name="Vanderbilt News"/> Shannon learned about Le Roux in [[Afghanistan]] while researching how warlords and terrorist groups were financed by the heroin trade,<ref name="Vanderbilt News"/> and her sources included undercover DEA agents and informants.<ref name="Kirkus Reviews">{{cite news |title=Hunting LeRoux: The Inside Story of the DEA Takedown of a Criminal Genius and His Empire |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elaine-shannon/hunting-leroux/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=February 6, 2019 |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> Mann wrote the foreword of the book and as of 2019 had plan to develop it into a movie.<ref name="Vanderbilt News"/> ''Kirkus Reviews'' called it a "painstaking, fascinating account of crime and punishment" and said Shannon did an especially good job presenting "how the American Drug Enforcement Administration pieced together its multiagency, multigovernmental case against Le Roux".<ref name="Kirkus Reviews"/> Jeff Ayers' review described the book as a "gripping account that is both well-written and exhaustively researched".<ref name="Ayers">{{cite news |last=Ayers |first=Jeff |date=February 26, 2019 |title=Review: Takedown of Paul LeRoux is gripping true-crime tale |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-takedown-paul-leroux-gripping-true-crime-tale-61335319 |work=ABC News |agency=Associated Press |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Awards== Shannon has won the [[Association for Women in Communications]]' [[Clarion Award]] and the [[New York State Bar Association|New York State Bar Association Award]].<ref name="cnn.com"/> In 1992, Shannon and [[John Moody (journalist)|John Moody's]] two-part [[Article (publishing)|cover story]] in ''Time'' about the [[Cali cartel]] won the [[Inter American Press Association]]'s IAPA-Bartolome Mitre Award for distinguished journalism.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="AP">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=IAPA Announces Journalism Awards |url=https://apnews.com/article/8f49d68383d05274edcf03c17b03a8e4 |work=AP |date=July 27, 1992 |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> Their story, "Cocaine, Inc.—The New Drug Kings", addressed the drug problem in the United States.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="AP"/>
==Personal life== Shannon lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Dan Morgan, author and correspondent for ''The Washington Post''.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="elaine-shannon.com"/> They have a son, Andrew.<ref name="cnn.com"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.elaine-shannon.com/ Official website] *[https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-shannon-02055724 LinkedIn profile] *[https://www.c-span.org/person/?elaineshannon Appearances on C-SPAN] *[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,157350,00.html Cover Stories: New Kings of Coke] *[http://www.davesaysmoviesmatter.com/elaine-shannon-hunting-leroux.html Interview with Dave Watson of davesaymoviesmatter.com]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Elaine}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century American journalists]] [[Category:20th-century American women journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American women journalists]] [[Category:American investigative journalists]] [[Category:Journalists from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Nieman Fellows]] [[Category:People from Gainesville, Georgia]] [[Category:Vanderbilt University alumni]]