Brian Ross

 

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Following September 11, 2001, Ross and the Investigative Unit broke numerous stories about the investigation into the terrorist attacks and anthrax letters. Among several exclusive reports, Ross was the first reporter to name Mohammed Atta and describe him as the ringleader of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. He was also the first to report on Zacarias Moussaoui's alleged role in the attacks and his questioning by the FBI prior to September 11th. His "Primetime Thursday" story about the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 featured the first airing of transmissions between the plane's cockpit and air traffic controllers.

In addition to filing for all ABC News' broadcasts, Ross files reports for ABC News Radio, available to 2,500 affiliates around the country. He also reports throughout the day for the Investigative Unit's website, "The Blotter," on ABCNEWS.com. Since launching in April 2006, the Blotter has quickly become one of the most popular destinations on ABCNEWS.com, receiving an average of 5 million readers a month.

Ross's work has been repeatedly honored with the most prestigious awards in journalism, including six duPont awards, five Peabody awards, five Polk awards, five awards from the Overseas Press Club, twelve Emmys and three Edward R. Murrow Awards and many more.

Prior to joining ABC News, Ross worked for 20 years at NBC News, reporting for the "NBC Nightly News" and "Dateline NBC."

In an award-winning two-part report for "Dateline NBC" in 1992, Ross exposed Wal-Mart's use of child labor in overseas sweatshops to provide clothing for their "Buy American" campaign. Ross also broke stories on the French Intelligence spying on American businessmen and was the first reporter to track down the fugitive Marc Rich at his Saint Moritz hideaway.

Ross solidified his reputation for investigative reporting by breaking stories such as the 1980 ABSCAM story, for which he was honored with a National Headliner Award. His exclusive report in March 1990 about Iraq trying to buy trigger mechanisms for nuclear weapons just months before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait made headlines worldwide.

His five-part "NBC Nightly News" series on the Teamsters Union won the 1976 Sigma Delta Chi Award and a National Headliner Award. In 1977, he won a National Headliner Award for a five-part study of organized crime in the United States.

Ross began his professional career in 1971 as a reporter at KWWL-TV in Waterloo, Iowa. He later worked at WCKT-TV in Miami and WKYC-TV in Cleveland. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.