Michael Hastings Dead: BuzzFeed Reporter Dies In Car Crash At Age 33(HuffingtonPost)

Stanley McChrystal interview[edit]

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In June 2010, Rolling Stone published "The Runaway General", Hastings's profile of US Army general Stanley McChrystal,[12] then commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the war in Afghanistan. The article reported remarks by McChrystal's staff that were overtly critical and contemptuous of White House staff and other civilian officials. On June 22, the news of the forthcoming article reached the attention of the American print media and the White House. McChrystal immediately issued an extensive apology, and Duncan Boothby, the civilian contractor responsible for coordinating the article with Hastings, resigned. U.S. President Barack Obama summoned him to the White House on June 23,[13][14] and relieved him of command.[15] Hastings offered his views on relations between McChrystal and the Obama administration.[16]
Hastings was originally meant to have controlled contact, which expanded when he had to catch a bus to Berlin with the general and his entourage after international flights were grounded, because of the air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which gave him sufficient time to pick up less discreet remarks.[17] How Hastings got access to McChrystal's inner circles is detailed in a Newsweek article.[18] Huffington Post named Hastings a 2010 Game Changer for his reporting, along with Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone.[19] Hastings was also awarded a Polk Award for his reporting.[20]

Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone on the Story that Brought Down Gen. McChrystal
^ Waterman, Shaun (June 23, 2010). "McChrystal resigns Afghan command". Washington Times. Retrieved 2010-06-24. "President Obama said Wednesday he had accepted the resignation of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, bringing to an ignominious end the storied but sometimes controversial career of one of the country's top soldiers. Mr. Obama, who angrily summoned Gen. McChrystal to Washington after the general and several aides may have disparaged senior members of the administration in a series of interviews with Rolling Stone magazine, ..."