James Martin Rosen is an American journalist and former Pentagon correspondent for McClatchy. He has covered politics since the 1980s, and has received two National Press Club awards for his reporting in Washington D.C. More recently, in 2017 and 2018, he received major awards for national security projects from the . Rosen also co-authored the acclaimed international espionage novel High Hand. , senior vice president of news for NPR, called it "a master political thriller;" Joby Warrick, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post, praised the book as "a ripping yarn" that "grabs you by the throat on the first page and doesn't let go." , historian and curator at the International Spy Museum in Washington, said it "eerily predicted Trump and Russia."
Rosen served as a Moscow correspondent for UPI, and upon his return to the U.S., he was a reporter for the New York Daily News and an assistant metro editor for the Raleigh News & Observer. Rosen's 1991 front-page New York Daily News article about Donald Trump having stopped a mugging was circulated and commented upon during Donald Trump's 2016 US Presidential campaign. Rosen later became a news strategist, a congressional reporter for McClatchy Newspapers and a frequent contributor to Tribune News Service, before becoming a Pentagon correspondent for McClatchy and Washington correspondent for the Miami Herald. He has also served as a political expert for C-SPAN, NPR, and CBS.
Reporting
During his time as a UPI reporter Rosen covered the collapse of Soviet rule. Later, he began to cover American politics, including the interactions and friction between Senator Jesse Helms and President Bill Clinton. His 1994 article quoting Helms saying Clinton would need a bodyguard if he came to North Carolina prompted congressional hearings and a Secret Service investigation. Rosen's 1996 article about Rep. Fred Heineman claiming he was middle class prompted ridicule in Congress with posters displayed in the House of Representatives. The comment was used in TV political ads against Heineman and were attributed to causing his re-election defeat. In 1998 Rosen received the Robin Goldstein Award for Washington Regional Reporting from the National Press Club and the National Press Foundation. The award citation described his work during the 1990s as including, “tobacco legislation and … insightful profiles, including a critical view of the plight of black family farmers in North Carolina and a heart-felt tribute column to his own father — all of which showed a keen insight into how Washington-based stories affect the readers back home.” In 2000 he received the McClatchy President's Award for his coverage of the 2000 Presidential recount in Florida. He continued to write stories for McClatchy, often with a focus on a Carolinian perspective. His stories have included coverage of stimulus funds, Carolinian politicians like Jim DeMint, and both the Obama and the Trump administrations. In 2012 Rosen received the National Press Club Award for Regional Reporting in Washington D.C. In 2017 Rosen received the James Crawley Award from The Military Reporters and Editors Association for his 2015–16 coverage of the common military target of both the Russian and American militaries and the place in history of these parallel efforts. In 2018 Rosen received from the Military Reporters and Editors Association for his on the more than decade-long efforts of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to sue the Saudi government for its alleged support of the hijackers and their anger over U.S. government actions to block such lawsuits
Books
In 2016 Rosen co-authored the novel High Hand under a collective pseudonym “Curtis J. James,” a mash-up of his name and those of the two other authors. The New York Times said the work grasped “the complex craft of espionage,” and used it to create “an enthralling work of fiction that is high-voltage from the opening scene.” A second edition of the book was published in 2018.
