Jacobsen is a contributing editor at The Los Angeles Times Magazine and a widely published journalist who specializes in terrorism and national security issues. She is the author most recently of the runaway New York Times bestseller Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base by Little Brown (May 2011).

     A frequent guest in national media, including CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air,” and Comedy Central’s “Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” she began her writing career as a business and finance journalist for WomensWallStreet.com. Her first book, Terror in the Skies: Why 9/11 Could Happen Again, was published in 2005.

      Jacobsen is a 1989 graduate of Princeton University, where she wrote under the tutelage of Joyce Carol Oates and served as captain of the Princeton women’s ice hockey team. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

PRAISE FOR AREA 51:

“Cauldron-stirring. . . . Levelheaded . . . assertive . . . revelatory. . . . Compellingly hard-hitting. . . . The book is noteworthy for its author’s dogged devotion to her research.” —Janet Maslin, New York Times