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Fred Francis

NBC's Fred Francis
NBC's Fred Francis

Fred Francis is a senior correspondent for NBC News based in NBC’s Washington, DC Bureau. He most recently reported inside Iraq before and during the war. For most of his 28 years with NBC News, Francis has focused on national security, military and diplomatic issues, primarily for "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw."

Francis was NBC's principal reporter during the Persian Gulf War, often breaking developments on an exclusive basis from his post at the Pentagon. He has also had world exclusives on the Iran-Contra affair, the poison gas plant in Libya, the explosion aboard the battleship USS Iowa, the downing of an Iranian Air Bus in the Persian Gulf War, missile proliferation in the third world and the military ties between Israel and South Africa. Following the Persian Gulf War, Francis worked for three years as the senior correspondent for NBC News’ prime-time newsmagazine "Dateline NBC" before returning to daily reporting. He covered a variety of topics in prime time, including his groundbreaking reports on Gulf War Syndrome, and a report on potential problems with the DPT vaccination resulting in federal re-examination of the issue.

Over the years, he has covered every major crisis and conflict involving U-S policy and American troops. Francis distinguished himself during his coverage of Castro’s Cuba, the Lebanese civil war, the overthrow of Somoza, the Iranian Revolution, the taking of the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Solidarity in Poland, fighting in Belfast, and interviews with Qaddafi and Arafat. He has reported from China and spent weeks at a time covering Israel and the Soviet Union for NBC News.

Francis has twice won a national news Emmy and he has also won the coveted Columbia-DuPont award.