In an exciting development, Breaking Defense is pleased to announce that Aaron Mehta has accepted the position of Editor-in-Chief of Breaking Defense. Mehta will join the company on July 6, succeeding founding editor Colin Clark at that time.
Mehta brings deep experience, journalistic acumen, integrity and a wealth of defense expertise and insight to Breaking Defense. He will be the editorial leader for the brand, leading our staff of expert reporters, guiding the global expansion of Breaking Defense and planning and overseeing the execution of editorial strategy, content and plans.
Mehta is widely respected in the field of national security. He comes to Breaking Defense from Defense News, where he has been one of the nation’s top defense journalists for over eight years, starting as the beat reporter on air warfare with subsequent promotions to Senior Pentagon Correspondent and Deputy Editor. Prior to Defense News, Mehta spent four years at The Center for Public Integrity, an investigative newsroom. Among his accolades, Mehta was selected for the 2017 Center for a New American Security Next Generation National Security fellowship and the 2019 Johns Hopkins’ National Security Scholars and Practitioners Program fellowship and was part of a team that won the 2020 Michael Dornheim Award from the National Press Club.
He joins Breaking Defense at a compelling time. The company has experienced phenomenal growth in the last years, in breadth and scope of editorial coverage as well as in readership, clientele and business revenue.
“We are thrilled to have a journalist with the integrity, reputation, expertise and vision of Aaron Mehta to lead Breaking Defense forward as we continue to grow and expand”, said David Smith, Publisher and Managing Director. “Aaron joins an awesome team of reporters and business and operations staff. We are in a rapid growth and investment mode and look forward to growing our global brand under Aaron, with further editorial additions already planned.”
Clark, the editor who founded Breaking Defense and guided it editorially to its place of current prominence, will be transitioning to a new role in a different part of the world, establishing Breaking Defense’s first Asian Bureau as he sets up shop in Australia. Clark’s transition to Australia had been discussed and anticipated for some time as part of his personal goals.
A full transition of editorial leadership from Clark to Mehta will occur on July 6.
“It is gratifying to know that Colin Clark will continue with Breaking Defense, albeit in a different capacity,” Smith said. “Colin laid the foundation for Breaking Defense and has led it since its inception, growing it from an idea in 2011 to the heights of where it is today. We all deeply appreciate Colin’s fundamental contribution and are
pleased to know that while he is pursuing his life goal to live with his family in Australia, he’ll still contribute reporting from Asia as part of the Breaking Defense global expansion.”
Colin Clark is particularly pleased by the choice of Aaron Mehta to succeed him. “After three years planning for this transition, I can’t say how pleased I am that we found the right person at the right time. Aaron and I have worked shoulder to shoulder for years and I’ve admired his news judgement, intimate knowledge of the US military, its leaders and those in Congress who oversee them. Breaking Defense will be in good hands.”