Andy Pasztor, senior special writer at the Los Angeles bureau of The Wall Street Journal, has more than 25 years experience covering local, national and international politics and business.

Starting as a reporter on daily newspapers in Mount Vernon, N.Y, and Cincinatti, Ohio, he then moved to South Florida to write about politics and land development for The Miami Herald.

Mr. Pasztor joined the Detroit bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1978 to cover the automobile industry, including the historic federal bailout of Chrysler Corp.

Transferring to the Washington, D.C. bureau in September 1980, his Justice Department assignment included reporting on the influence-peddling scandals involving the Environmental Protection Agency, the criminal investigation of Attorney General Edwin Meese and the Congressional and independent counsel probes of the Iran-Contra affair. He then covered the Defense Department and the Pentagon, and was among the first reporters to go out with the troops during the Persian Gulf War.

In September 1995, Mr. Pasztor's book uncovering the criminality that tainted President Reagan's defense build up, When The Pentagon Was For Sale - Inside America's Biggest Defense Scandal, was published by Charles Scribner's & Sons.

Since coming to Los Angeles, Mr. Pasztor has written about white-collar crime, defense-related topics, the satellite industry and aviation safety. He has provided in-depth analyses of the commercial air disasters involving Trans World Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Egypt Air and the Concorde.

Mr. Pasztor is a foster and adoptive parent who lives in Manhattan Beach, California. His wife is a professor of social work. His family also includes an Airedale Terrier, an Otterhound and a large cat.