Dana Louise Priest is an American academic, journalist and writer. She became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism on May 2, 2014. She has worked for nearly 30 years for The Washington Post. Before becoming a full-time investigative reporter, Priest specialized in national security reporting for the Post, and wrote many articles on the U.S. "War on terror". In 2006 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting citing "her persistent, painstaking reports on secret "black site" prisons and other controversial features of the government's counterterrorism campaign." In 2008 The Washington Post won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, citing the work of reporters Priest and Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille "exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials." In February 2006, Priest was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting for her November 2005 article on secret CIA detention facilities in foreign countries. 

May 23rd, 1957 in Canoga Park, Los Angeles (Age 67)