Alex W. Palmer
ASU Future Security Fellow, 2025
Alex W. Palmer is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine. His 2019 cover story 鈥淭he China Connection鈥 was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His work has appeared in GQ, Smithsonian Magazine, the New Republic, and on the websites of the New Yorker and National Geographic.
He graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in Phi Beta Kappa, where he majored in social studies with a focus on conflict and ethics. As a Marshall Scholar, he earned an MA in conflict, security, and development at King鈥檚 College London and an MPhil in Middle Eastern history at Cambridge. He was a member of the inaugural class of Yenching Scholars at Peking University, where he earned a degree in China Studies and wrote extensively on modern China. As a National Geographic Explorer, he traveled the length of the Silk Road from Xi'an in western China through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
Palmer is currently working on a book about the history of American intelligence in China.
Selected Work
- : A piece for The New York Times Magazine about the rise of fentanyl and a DEA investigation into the death of a North Dakota teenager.
- : A story for The New York Times Magazine about the founding of TikTok and the app's uncertain fate.
- : A piece for The New York Times Magazine about the prosecution of two humanitarian volunteers for their work helping migrants.