Josh Campbell

Correspondent

Josh Campbell is an award-winning CNN correspondent covering national security, guns, and law enforcement.
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CNN Digital Expansion 2019, Josh Campbell
CNN Digital Expansion 2019, Josh Campbell

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Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Wray is expected to state that the top terrorism threat "is posed by lone actors or small cells of individuals who typically radicalize to violence online" according to testimony posted in advance of the meeting. Photographer: Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg/Getty Images
FBI on alert for threats to the Jewish community ahead of Passover, director says
Apr 18, 2024
Federal law enforcement is on alert for any potential threats to the US Jewish community ahead of the start of the Passover holiday, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a group of nationwide security officials Wednesday.
Tourist Burglars Josh Campbell SCREENGRAB
Orange County District Attorney
•Video 3:31
‘Burglary tourists’ travel to US on visas to rob upscale homes. Here’s how they do it 3:31
Apr 6, 2024
Officials say a sophisticated ring of thieves are traveling to Chile where they can easily obtain a tourist visa waiver to enter the US and rob numerous upscale homes across the country.
A group of thieves is seen breaking into the Starr's home through a window in the upper bedroom in a video released by the Orange County D.A.
Orange County D.A.
‘They hit the jackpot’: How so-called ‘burglary tourists’ use visa waivers to target luxury US homes
Apr 6, 2024
Carol and Jeff Starr celebrated their daughter’s wedding last month with a bit of irony: neither was wearing their own wedding rings at the ceremony. Thieves had broken into their Southern California home last spring and cleaned out a safe full of jewelry.
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: U.S. Rep. Karen Bass said that as mayor she would move 250 Los Angeles police officers out of desk jobs and into patrols, while ensuring that the department returns to its authorized strength of 9,700 officers. Photographed at the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Burglars steal $30 million in cash from a Los Angeles money storage facility – one of the city’s largest cash heists
Apr 5, 2024
On the night of Easter Sunday, at an unnamed facility in Sylmar, a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored
An individual in a vehicle attempted to gain entry to the Atlanta FBI field office, according to an FBI Atlanta spokesperson.
WSB
Police ID suspect after vehicle crashes into gate at the Atlanta FBI field office
Apr 2, 2024
Authorities have identified the suspect accused of ramming a vehicle through an entrance gate at the FBI’s Atlanta field office on Monday afternoon.
FILE - Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek speaks during a signing ceremony in Washington, Feb. 23, 2024. Kotek wants to scrap a plan to implement tolls on large sections of two Portland-area interstates, she said Monday, March 11. The governor said that move should not impact the planned collection of toll revenue on the interstate highway bridge between Oregon and Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Susan Walsh/AP
Oregon governor signs drug re-criminalization bill, reversing voter ballot measure
Apr 1, 2024
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed legislation on Monday re-criminalizing the possession of certain drugs roughly three years after the state became the first in the nation to decriminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs, the Democratic governor’s office told CNN.
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Armed Forces of the Philippines
China coast guard water-cannons Philippine ship days after US backs Manila in disputed sea
Mar 23, 2024
China’s coast guard used water cannon against Philippine boats in a contested area of the South China Sea on Saturday, the latest in a string of maritime clashes between the two countries.
"Genesis" -- When an armored truck heist ends in bloodshed, the team races to track down priceless jewels before more lives are lost. Also, Hondo's mother, Charice (guest star Debbie Allen), visits, on S.W.A.T., Friday, April 7 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*. Pictured: Shemar Moore as Sergeant Daniel \'Hondo\' Harrelson.
CBS
Inside Hollywood’s new effort to curb gun deaths
Mar 17, 2024
A look at the “Show Gun Safety” campaign, an effort by “S.W.A.T.” creators and other television producers to portray safe firearm storage.
campbell swat set
CNN
•Video 3:47
This small tweak in shows is Hollywood’s way of combating gun violence 3:47
Mar 17, 2024
CNN’s Josh Campbell visits the set of the CBS Original “S.W.A.T,” to see how Hollywood is using the big screen to encourage gun safety and combat gun violence.
A person is using fentanyl on Park Avenue following the decriminalization of all drugs in downtown Portland, Oregon on January 23, 2024. When police officer Eli Arnold stops a homeless man smoking methamphetamine on the street in Portland, he simply writes him a ticket with a $100 fine. Since hard drugs were decriminalised in Oregon three years ago, there are no arrests, just the fine and a card with a telephone number where the user can get help. "Give them the ticket number and they'll just ask you if you want treatment," he tells the man. There's no wrong answer to this question, he says. "Just call the number, the ticket goes away." In February 2021, possession and use of all drugs -- including cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and fentanyl -- was decriminalised in the western state. Sale and production remains punishable. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Oregon governor to sign bill re-criminalizing possession of certain drugs into law
Mar 8, 2024
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek will sign new legislation re-criminalizing the possession of certain drugs, according to a statement from the Democratic governor.
“Rust” movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed listens to the verdict being read in court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday.
Pool via Court TV
‘Rust’ movie armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, acquitted of evidence tampering
Mar 7, 2024
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the “Rust” film armorer, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and acquitted of tampering with evidence Wednesday in a New Mexico trial stemming from the 2021 on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun that was held by actor Alec Baldwin.
A Portland officer issues a citation and treatment card to a man using fentanyl in public. CNN has added blur to this image to protect the identity of the subject.
CNN
A major West Coast city is in a state of emergency over fentanyl. Figuring out how to fight the ‘demons’ is its own challenge
Mar 4, 2024
The mayor, a county chairperson and the governor have declared at 90-day state of emergency to address the public health and safety crisis driven by fentanyl in Central City and as state lawmakers also weigh reversing a 2020 measure that decriminalized hard substances, including fentanyl.
Portland Police cite a fentanyl user for open possession on the street.
CNN
Oregon Legislature approves bill to re-criminalize certain drug possession
Mar 2, 2024
Lawmakers in Oregon have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make possession of a small amount of certain drugs a misdemeanor in the state, moving to re-criminalize substances like fentanyl roughly three years after the state became the first in the nation to de-criminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs.
Robert Rundo seen during a March 2017 rally in Huntington Beach, California.
Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/AP/File
A highly unusual ruling to dismiss a case against 2 White nationalists is put on hold by a federal appeals court
Feb 24, 2024
After a federal judge made the rare decision to dismiss a criminal case against two White nationalists suspected of inciting violence at political rallies, an appeals court on Thursday put the ruling on hold and one of the men was re-arrested.
Charles McGonigal, a former FBI official who has been charged with working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, arrives at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Former FBI counterintelligence chief sentenced to more prison time over undisclosed foreign cash
Feb 18, 2024
A former senior FBI counterintelligence official, previously sentenced to federal prison for his association with a Russian oligarch, has been ordered to serve additional time in a separate case involving the receipt of foreign cash, according to the US Justice Department.
A law enforcement officer looks around the scene following a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs NFL football Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. Multiple people were injured, a fire official said.(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Charlie Riedel/AP
Missouri has some of the weakest gun laws in the US. Here’s how that is impacting the Kansas City shooting investigation
Feb 16, 2024
The deadly mass shooting that unfolded Wednesday following a Super Bowl celebration rally in Kansas City – a city that recorded its deadliest-ever year in 2023 – occurred in a state known to have some of the weakest gun laws in the country.

About

Josh Campbell is an award-winning CNN correspondent covering national security, guns, and law enforcement.

He reports both domestically and internationally, and provides analysis across CNN platforms. He can often be found deployed to the scenes of critical incidents, helping lead the network’s breaking news coverage of issues involving public safety and security.

Campbell won an Emmy in 2021 for reporting on the murder of George Floyd, and continued to break news in the prosecution of the Minnesota officers charged in Floyd’s death. His work has also gained Emmy nominations for reporting on terrorism and immigration issues, and he was part of the CNN team honored with the 2020 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for coverage on the ground in Istanbul reporting on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He joined CNN following a career in national security as a supervisory special agent with the FBI. His work included: continued deployments overseas responding to terrorist attacks and kidnappings as a member of the FBI’s global response team; online undercover operations; fugitive apprehensions and extraditions; diplomatic postings to American embassies abroad; spokesperson and crisis communication liaison with the White House and National Security Council; and Special Assistant to the Director of the FBI.

Campbell received four FBI Combat Theater Awards for his work embedded with military special operations and CIA teams abroad, and was honored for his squad’s pioneering efforts utilizing cutting edge technology to disrupt imminent terrorist plots overseas.

In his years serving overseas, he trained hundreds of foreign law enforcement, military, and intelligence officers in conducting interviews and interrogations, intelligence collection, crime scene management, and the rule of law.

Campbell is an adjunct Senior Fellow with the Center for a New American Security, served as adjunct professor for digital and national security at the University of Southern California, and is the author of a book on the FBI. In addition, he is a reserve military officer with past assignments in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific.

He holds an M.A. in Communication from Johns Hopkins, a B.A. in Government from The University of Texas at Austin, and received Arabic language immersion training at Middlebury College.