Leo Shane III (Military Times) specializes in military policy and veterans’ affairs, with deep expertise in legislative processes and healthcare systems. His 20-year career has produced award-winning investigations into toxic exposure impacts and benefits access barriers.
Leo Shane III has established himself as a preeminent voice in military and veterans affairs journalism over his two-decade career. Beginning his Washington, D.C. coverage in 2004, Shane honed his expertise in legislative processes through relentless Capitol Hill reporting. His early work focused on defense budget debates and military personnel reforms, laying groundwork for his later systemic analyses of veterans’ healthcare systems.
This 2025 investigative piece demonstrated Shane’s ability to translate complex policy changes into actionable information for veterans. By detailing the VA’s expansion of presumptive benefits for post-9/11 personnel exposed to toxic substances, Shane highlighted both the bureaucratic hurdles facing veterans and evolving scientific understanding of warzone health impacts. His inclusion of enrollment statistics (13,000+ K2 veterans in VA care) grounded the policy shift in human terms.
Shane’s coverage of the PACT Act implementation (2022-present) reveals his interest in how laws translate to real-world outcomes. Effective pitches should connect policy changes to individual veteran experiences, particularly those demonstrating systemic barriers to care. Example: A veteran’s three-year benefits battle resolved through new presumptive rules.
With 40+ articles tracking toxic exposure impacts since 2018, Shane prioritizes longitudinal data from VA medical centers and independent researchers. Pitches featuring decade-long health studies or comparative analyses of veteran cohorts will align with his evident interest in exposure-related epidemiology.
“His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.”
The George Polk Award (2009) recognized Shane’s expose on improper veteran suicide tracking methodologies, prompting VA reporting reforms. His National Headliner Award (2010) celebrated a 12-part series tracking wounded warriors’ transition challenges, which directly influenced 2011 Veterans Opportunity to Work Act provisions.
