Breaking the Story: Alex Ward '08

With the 2024 presidential election just weeks away, Alex Ward ’08 has a front-row seat to the contentious political battle playing out across the United States. A seasoned national security reporter, he has been traveling with President Biden, reporting on the White House’s role in forming and executing U.S. foreign policy, as well as those in Washington shaping national security policy. 

In August, Alex joined the Wall Street Journal staff, after previously working as a national security reporter at Vox and most recently at Politico, where he was also the first anchor of the news outlet’s “National Security Daily” newsletter. While at Politico, Alex and colleague Josh Gerstein broke the initial story on the overturn of Roe v. Wade, after receiving a leaked draft of Supreme Court Justice Alito’s opinion in the Dobbs case. Their 2022 reporting on the Supreme Court garnered a George Polk Award for National Reporting, and Alex and the Politico team also became finalists for a 2023 Pulitzer Prize. 

While Alex acknowledges that it’s nice to be recognized for a job well done, the “grander reward” is doing a job that helps people understand the world in which we live. “I see this as a public service,” he says. “It is always good to have citizens question the government on behalf of other citizens.” 

After Donald Trump left office and Joe Biden began his presidency, Alex was keen to explore and explain the transition of power—the “inflection point,” as he calls it—to the American people. So he wrote a book called The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump, in which he looked at the first two years of Biden’s term in office, the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the invasion of Ukraine. As Alex says, “There was a big story to tell there.” 

As for the story of how Alex went from St. Mark’s to the nation’s capital, that tale is somewhat more modest, yet filled with the alumnus' signature sense of humor and wit. “I lived the Holdovers experience,” Alex cheekily acknowledges, drawing a comparison between the award-winning film and his early years on campus. 

As last year’s Prize Day speaker, he recalled how he literally grew up at the School—for 18 years—as the child of former St. Mark’s Spanish teacher and Barcelona native Esther Sanchez. “At the end of the day,” Alex said to the graduates, “St. Mark’s is a home. It is inextricably a part of you.”

And when Alex remembers his time at home on this campus, he sees connections between his student experiences at St. Mark’s and his current job responsibilities. For instance, as a member of the Lions’ improv comedy troupe “Say What?!” Alex had to push the narrative forward after  listening to his acting peers. Now, as a reporter, he is still listening and pushing. The only difference, he jokes, is that “Instead of ‘Yes, and…’ it’s more ‘No, but…’”

Kidding aside, Alex credits St. Mark’s teachers and their classes for kindling his interest in world affairs. In Jason Eslick’s Cold War, Cool Culture class, he engaged in deeper analysis than ever before; and in his first international relations class, AP Human Geography with David Suitor, Alex discovered a passion for the field he decided to pursue professionally.

His curiosity in politics piqued, Alex headed to American University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies and a master’s in U.S. foreign policy, but he did not go straight to the White House from there. In fact, after graduation, Alex returned to St. Mark’s, where he spent the fall of 2013 conducting admissions interviews, driving the weekend bus, and coaching thirds soccer with his mom. 

“The paradox of spending 18 years here,” Alex says wryly, “is that you develop a thirst for elsewhere!”

So when an internship opportunity opened up at the Atlantic Council think tank, Alex jumped at the chance to return to D.C. (His then girlfriend, now wife, was also a compelling reason to move back). Alex spent a total of four years at the Atlantic Council covering the State Department and Defense Ministry before landing a job as a Pentagon reporter at Vox by vowing, “I will outwork anyone you pick for this job.” 

His determination and persistence paid off. Today, Alex is one of the “fortunate few” who gets to travel with the president around the world. “I take it seriously,“ he says of the privilege. “Even the world’s most powerful leader is not above questioning.” 

-Jackie Waters