AP's Matt Apuzzo Joins The New York Times

Matt Apuzzo, a top AP reporter, is heading to the New York Times,
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Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Matt Apuzzo is leaving the Associated Press for the New York Times, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.

Apuzzo, along with reporter Adam Goldman, won a Pulitzer for their reporting on the NYPD's Muslim surveillance program and earned a reputation in Washington for deep reporting into intelligence and national security. The Department of Justice opened three separate investigations into leaks related to Apuzzo and Goldman reports.

Last month, Goldman left for The Washington Post, where he's covering counter-terrorism and intelligence matters.

The final Apuzzo and Goldman story, published last week by the AP, was another blockbuster. They revealed how Robert Levinson, an American who went missing in Iran in 2007, had been working for the CIA at the time as part of a rogue intelligence-gathering mission.

On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Apuzzo suggested the U.S. government spend more time talking about Levinson's ongoing ordeal than the AP's decision to publish after already holding the news for three years.

At the Times, Apuzzo will be covering the Justice Dept. and is expected to team up on stories with Washington bureau reporters like Charlie Savage and Michael Schmidt.

The memos from AP Washington bureau chief Sally Buzbee and New York Times Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan are below:

Colleagues,

I wanted to let you know that Matt Apuzzo is leaving the AP to take a job at the New York Times, beginning in January.

Matt has built a reputation as a whip-smart and intellectually aggressive reporter, beginning 11 years ago on cops in Hartford and as a corruption-chasing correspondent in New Haven. He came to Washington in 2006 as a legal affairs/courthouse reporter and put his byline on some of the biggest stories of the time: Abramoff, Libby, Blackwater, the economic meltdown.

He joined the investigative team in January 2009 and, along with Adam Goldman, turned to reporting on the CIA and secret prisons, terrorism, the FBI and most notably the NYPD Muslim surveillance story that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2011. He and Adam also broke the Levinson story this fall after three years of painstaking work. Most recently, Matt and Dina Cappiello also led an important series on ethanol.

None of that terrific lineup of stories even remotely captures Matt's true impact across the AP, however. His mentoring and training of other reporters has benefited the entire global newsroom. His drive, discipline, good judgment and wisdom have touched countless people and countless pieces of journalism.

We wish Matt all the best in his new job, where he will focus on enterprise and investigative reporting around the Justice Department, law and policy. His last day here will be Jan. 10.

We will move quickly to ensure our investigative reporting efforts remain strong. My and our commitment to that reporting is solid and ongoing. And I look forward to much input from all of you as that effort, including hiring, progresses.

Very best,

Sally

Folks,

I am thrilled to tell you that Matt Apuzzo, who won the Pulitzer Prize for a series revealing the New York Police Department's surveillance of the Muslim community, will be joining us as a reporter in the Washington bureau.

Matt is a gifted reporter and an investigative natural. His high-impact stories have uncovered the locations of CIA prisons, revealed widespread cheating on FBI certification tests and identified the exclusive cadre of Wall Street bankers who get to call the Treasury secretary directly.

He grew up in Cumberland, a small town on the coast of Maine, and attended Colby College (alma mater of another New York Times star, Rebecca Corbett.) He began writing for the Waterville Morning Sentinel while still in school.

He began his professional career as a reporter for the Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass., where he happened upon a major organized crime and corruption investigation involving heroin trafficking in the fishing town.

He then moved to the AP, based in Connecticut, during an extraordinary era of public corruption in that state, when the governor, the governor's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, the NAACP chairman, three mayors and the state treasurer all went to prison.

He became an investigative reporter for the AP in Washington, and with his colleague, Adam Goldman, produced the series that showed how the NYPD systematically spied on Muslim Americans and built databases of where they ate, shopped, lived and prayed.

Matt will be joining us in the Washington bureau, covering Justice. A natural collaborator, he looks forward to teaming up with other Times staffers, including Charlie Savage, who will continue to focus on the NSA story and national security legal issues, and Mike Schmidt, who covers the FBI.

He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Becky, an immigration lawyer, and two kids: Dominic, 4, and Daphne, who is almost 2.

Please join me in welcoming him. His email is [redacted]

This post was updated with memo from Carolyn Ryan.

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