Sebastian Rotella
Sebastian Rotella is a reporter at ProPublica. An award-winning foreign correspondent and investigative reporter, Sebastian's coverage includes terrorism, intelligence and organized crime.
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Sebastian Rotella is a senior reporter at ProPublica. An award-winning foreign correspondent and investigative reporter, he worked for almost 23 years for the Los Angeles Times before joining ProPublica in 2010. He covers international security issues including terrorism, intelligence, organized crime, human rights and migration. His reporting has taken him across the Americas and Europe, and to the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.
In 2020, Sebastian was part of the ProPublica team whose coverage of the pandemic and the CDC was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for public service. The Association of Health Care Journalists gave that coverage the Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism in the investigative category.
In 2016, he was co-writer and correspondent for Terror in Europe, a Frontline documentary that was a finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors broadcast/video award. In 2013, his Finding Oscar investigation with This American Life won a Peabody Award, a Dart Center Award, and two awards from the Overseas Press Club. In 2012, he was recognized with Italy’s Urbino Press Award for excellence in American journalism. His A Perfect Terrorist investigation of the Mumbai attacks (with Frontline) was nominated for an Emmy, and the online version of the story got an Overseas Press Club Award in 2011.
In 2006, he was named a Pulitzer finalist for international reporting for his L.A. Times coverage of terrorism and Muslim communities in Europe, which won the German Marshall Fund’s senior award for excellence in European reporting. He was part of a team whose coverage of al-Qaida received an Overseas Press Club award and finalist honors for Harvard University’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2002. In 2001, he won Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize for his career coverage of Latin America. His work in Latin America also won honors from the Overseas Press Club, Inter-American Press Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
At the L.A. Times, Sebastian served as a correspondent at the Mexican border, in South America and in Europe. His border reporting inspired two songs on Bruce Springsteen’s album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995).
Sebastian is the author of three novels: Rip Crew (2018), The Convert’s Song (2014), and Triple Crossing (2011).He is also the author of Twilight on the Line: Underworlds and Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border (1998). He speaks Spanish, French and Italian. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, studied at the University of Barcelona, and was born in Chicago.
Saudi Fugitives Accused of Serious Crimes Get Help to Flee While U.S. Officials Look the Other Way
The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have known for years that Saudi diplomats were helping Saudi fugitives. But Washington avoided even raising the problem out of concern that it might hurt Saudi cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
A pesar de sus duras palabras contra traficantes de migrantes, Trump ha socavado esfuerzos para frenarles
ICE ha transferido personal y dinero de investigaciones más complejas para respaldar la campaña de la administración de arrestar, encarcelar y deportar a los inmigrantes ilegales.
Despite Trump’s Tough Talk About Migrant Smugglers, He’s Undercut Efforts to Stop Them
ICE has shifted manpower and money away from more complex investigations to support the administration’s push to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
Trump Takes a Tougher Line on Pakistan, but the 2008 Mumbai Attack Goes Unpunished
Although the administration’s policy shift has raised hopes, a Pakistani intelligence officer and others indicted in the killings of 166 people remain at large. Critics say the Pakistani government protects them.
El extraño caso de los diplomáticos estadounidenses en Cuba: el misterio se intensifica y las divisiones en Washington también
Funcionarios de la administración Trump insisten que los americanos fueron atacados, aunque las pruebas no aparecen. “La cosa de Cuba es uno de los pocos misterios no resueltos que tenemos,” dijo un oficial.
The Strange Case of American Diplomats in Cuba: As the Mystery Deepens, So Do Divisions in Washington
Trump officials insist the Americans were attacked, even as the evidence fails to materialize. “The Cuba thing is one of the few unsolved mysteries we’ve got,” an official said.
The U.S. Considered Declaring Russia a State Sponsor of Terror, Then Dropped It
After an attack on a former spy, the State Department pondered placing that label on Putin’s government. Instead, the Trump administration continued a longtime U.S. policy of treating Russia as a partner in fighting terrorism even as evidence of its misbehavior mounts.
John Bolton Skewed Intelligence, Say People Who Worked With Him
Former colleagues say the next national security adviser — whose job is to marshal information and present it to the president fairly — resists input that doesn’t fit his biases and retaliates against people he disagrees with.
State Department Likely to Extend Cuts to U.S. Embassy in Cuba
Six months after the State Department pulled most of its diplomats from Havana because of mysterious incidents that injured 24 Americans, the Trump administration is poised to make the reductions permanent. The decision could affect U.S. intelligence, Cuban migration and support for Cuban human rights advocates.
El sonido y la furia: Dentro del misterio de la embajada de La Habana
Más de un año después de que diplomáticos americanos empezaron a sufrir extraños síntomas en Cuba, la investigación no ha logrado determinar cómo fueron lesionados ni por quien, y el FBI y la CIA difieren sobre el caso.