Kelly Hearn has written on national security and diplomacy as a staff writer for The Washington Times. His investigative reporting has been funded by The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Nation Institute, and the North American Congress on Latin America. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Nation, National Geographic News, The Christian Science Monitor and The Virginia Quarterly Review. He received research support for reporting this article from The Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation Investigative Fund.