Ryan Lucas
Ryan Lucas covers the Justice Department for NPR.
He focuses on the national security side of the Justice beat, including counterterrorism, counterintelligence and transnational repression.
Before joining NPR, Lucas worked for a decade as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press based in Poland, Egypt and Lebanon. In Poland, he covered the fallout from the revelations about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. In the Middle East, he reported on the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the turmoil that followed. He also covered the Libyan civil war, the Syrian conflict and the rise of the Islamic State. He reported from Iraq during the U.S. occupation and later during the Islamic State takeover of Mosul in 2014.
He also covered intelligence and national security for Congressional Quarterly.
Lucas earned a bachelor's degree from The College of William and Mary, and a master's degree from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
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The Civil Rights Division, long the crown jewel of the Justice Department, has been radically reshaped under President Trump, using its enforcement powers to pursue the president's MAGA agenda.
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Harmeet Dhillon has pushed out hundreds of longtime attorneys, replaced many with inexperienced ideological allies, and used the division's enforcement powers to pursue the president's agenda. -
NPR's exclusive reporting shows that the FBI teams that hunt foreign spies are severely understaffed, down as much as 50 percent in some offices.
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The cuts come as a consequence of President Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel's focus on violent crime and immigration, leaving other priorities understaffed. -
The indictment says the defendants belong to a network that "is one arm of the Russian Federation's apparatus used to carry out external attacks" worldwide. -
The charges represent a rare moment of the Justice Department seeking to hold immigration officers accountable. -
A federal prosecutor who was fired earlier this year is suing the DOJ, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed for political reasons tied to her work prosecuting a case against anti-abortion activists. -
Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination is moving forward after two Republican senators received written assurances the Justice Department would abandon a controversial compensation fund.
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Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination has run into resistance from Republicans demanding answers about a Justice Department settlement tied to Trump's tax returns.
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The news comes as two key Republicans are withholding their support over concerns about the Justice Department's deal with President Trump.
