Bob Orr
Bob Orr
/ CBSBob Orr is the Justice and Homeland Security correspondent for CBS News.
Orr has covered the transportation beat for CBS News in Washington since 1993. Since the 9/11 attacks, he has also covered homeland security, with an emphasis on aviation and terrorism. Orr's work appears primarily on the "CBS Evening News."
He contributed scores of live reports to the more than 93 hours of continuous CBS News coverage of those attacks and broke many stories with details of the four hijacked planes. Orr led the Network's coverage of the Columbia shuttle disaster and reported extensively on the Washington, D.C. sniper attacks. He has broken many important aviation stories, including the center fuel tank diagnosis as the likely cause of the crash of TWA flight 800. In all, Orr has covered more than a dozen major air accidents including American Airlines flight 587 in New York (2001), EgyptAir (1991) and USAir flight 427 near Pittsburgh (1994). His investigative reports on the Pittsburgh accident helped expose a design flaw in the rudder system of the Boeing 737, the world's most widely used airplane.
Orr is the recipient of three Emmy Awards: for his reports on the sniper attacks, the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 and the 1999 crash of Amtrak's "City of New Orleans" train near Chicago. He also received a Sigma Delta Chi Award for his reporting on the return of Elian Gonzales to Havana.
Orr joined CBS News in July 1993 as a general assignment correspondent in Washington.
Before that, he was a reporter and anchor for WBNS TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio (1978-85 and 1988-93). Orr distinguished himself as a reporter and later helped prison negotiators end the 1993 prison siege in Lucasville, Ohio. He also covered Hurricanes Andrew, Hugo and Gloria and reported on the nationwide coal strikes in 1981 and 1983, the baseball strike of 1994 and the DuPont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico, in addition to local, state and national politics. Orr worked as a reporter at WCAU TV (1985 88), the then-CBS Owned television station in Philadelphia. He began his career in broadcast journalism at WTRF TV Wheeling, W.V. as a reporter (1974-78).
In addition to his national Emmy Awards, Orr has received three regional Emmys for his reporting. He also contributed to numerous Associated Press Awards that WBNS TV received as Outstanding News Operation in Ohio.
Orr was born on October 21, 1953, in Wheeling, W.V. He was graduated cum laude from Bethany (W.V.) College in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. Orr lives in Fairfax County, Va., with his wife, Susie. They have three daughters.
I am a newspaper journalist with almost 40 years in metro reporting, including in DC and abroad.
Orr's comment about the bomb was utter baloney. In fact, according to an Army friend whose job is taking apart live bombs, the Boston devices could have been assembled easily by anyone who can read and follow instructions.
Orr and his inside the Beltway ilk ought to do their homework. The bombs were SIMPLE devices, made of easily obtained components and easily assembled.
You guys are a disgrace to honest journalism.
i just read your piece on andy lanza.
it is not credible.
"law enforcement source" cannot be confirmed by anyone but you, and there are so many inconsistancies in published stories about the newtown shooting that "law enforcement sources" have to be rigouresly cross examined.
For example, other sources looking into who andy lanza was, and who reveal their methods, cannot find evidence that andy lanza existed prior to december. e.g., no dl, school records, etc. you can search the internet better than i can to verify what i have said.
i do not expect a reply, but please note. more people every day see the MSM as intentional disinformation.
your piece is likely disinformation.
Bob, you do great reporting, but, allowing that racial reference is pretty bad.
Just to correct your statement on Sunday's program. I was no fan of the president, but it was actually Acting Chairman Jeb Stuart Magruder and Attorney General John Mitchell who ordered the Watergate break in; not Richard Nixon.
Robert Baker
I would first like to say that you do an excellent job reporting transportation issues on the CBS News. A friend of mine works for the Transportation Dept, so these issues are often a topic of conversation.
Secondly, I would like to ask you what type of glasses you wear on the air. I love the fact that they are nearly invisible, with hardly any rim. I would greatly appreciate any info you could provide as to manufacturer, model, etc. As a teacher, these would be perfect for me and I have been looking for something like you have for quite some time.
Thank you so much for your time, I know you are a busy man and have more important things to do than pass along eye-glasses info, and keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Jeff Gould
Verona, New Jersey
I was rather appalled at the story you reported today about "illegal cigarette smuggling." Good grief. Isn't this a story about entrepreneurship? Buy low and sell high works on Wall Street. And certainly American business is not immune to avoiding paying taxes by off-shoring assets and jobs. So, why is it a crime for a black guy on I-95, punishable by two years in jail, while the white guys on Wall Street wrecked the economy and are at large? And once you buy something, isn't it YOURS to dispose of as you please? That's what the tycoons do, no matter who it hurts. You are looking for the wrong criminals. This kind of reporting and this selective enforcement of laws is all the explanation you should need about the OWS protests. People are sick of this injustice and skewed thinking. The economic model only works for the haves. The have-nots get stopped, frisked and carted away. It's a waste of law enforcement dollars. Just take a second and look at this from another perspective and the story will seem ironic at best. That is, unless your job is to prop up the status quo.
Best regards at catching the real criminals.
A thoughtful viewer.