Amanda Ripley, Senior Time Magazine Writer - Homeland Security and Risk

In 2005, Amanda covered Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from New Orleans, La., helping TIME win two National Magazine Awards. Two years earlier, she covered the European heat wave, which killed an estimated 50,000 people, from TIME’s Paris bureau. On Sept. 11, 2001, Amanda was in New York City. That day and for years afterwards, she wrote extensively about the attacks, the victims and the recovery of the city and the survivors. To discuss her stories, Amanda has appeared on ABC News, CNN, FOX News, CNBC, MSNBC and dozens of international, national and local radio shows. What makes Amanda’s work unusual is that she doesn’t just explain what happened; she obsessively investigates why people do what they do, and how we can do better, combining science and practical lessons with literary storytelling.

Amanda has also been integrally involved in TIME’s Person of the Year cover stories. She did extensive reporting for the 2001 Person of the Year profile of Rudy Giuliani and was the lead writer and reporter for TIME's 2002 People of the Year cover story on the FBI, WorldCom and Enron whistleblowers. In 2004, she traveled to India and Bangladesh to write the People of the Year cover profile of Bill and Melinda Gates.

Before joining TIME, Amanda covered the D.C. court system for Washington City Paper and reported on Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly. She has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Monthly and Time Out. Amanda received a BA in Government from Cornell University. She has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the Washington Monthly, among others, and she is a two-time Livingston Award finalist. Amanda currently covers risk and homeland security for TIME Magazine from Washington, DC.

Read the Time Magazine article, "How to Escape Down an Airplane Slide — and Still Make Your Connection!" by Amanda Ripley