Al Pessin
Pentagon

Al Pessin became VOA Pentagon Correspondent in January of 2005.  Since then, he has traveled the world covering a wide range of stories including military exchanges in West Africa, the transition to NATO responsibility in Afghanistan, the situation at the Guantanamo detention center and the homeland defense mission of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.  In addition, he covered trips by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq, Asia, Europe and North Africa.  He has also traveled to Afghanistan with then-NATO commander, General James Jones, to Southeast Asia with then-U.S. Pacific commander, Admiral William Fallon, and to Australia and Indonesia with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace. 

Al has worked at VOA for 30 years, including assignments as correspondent in Beijing, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Islamabad and New York, and as senior correspondent at the White House and chief editor for Europe, Africa and the Middle East based in London from 2002-04.  He was chief of the 24-hour all-news radio program VOA News Now from 1999-2000, and director of the VOA English Programs Division from 2000-2002.  In that capacity, he served as executive producer of VOA’s first live simulcast radio/TV coverage, broadcasting the 2000 presidential debates, election night and Inauguration Day, 2001.

Al was expelled from China under martial law regulations after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 for 'illegal news gathering' and 'spreading rumors and fomenting counter-revolutionary rebellion.'  That year, he won VOA's "Outstanding Employee of the Year" award, a Gold Medal at the International Radio Festival of New York and was named "Communicator of the Year" by the National Association of Government Communicators.  He has also won numerous other VOA awards, including one in 2006 for his Pentagon coverage. 

Al has spoken about his experiences at several venues, including Harvard and Stanford Universities.  A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Al began leading seminars for graduate students at the school's Washington program in 2005.