NBC's Courtney Kube on national security and the importance of the Medal of Honor

NBC News correspondent Courtney Kube covers national security and the military for the network's investigative unit. She began working for NBC in 2001 as a producer for "Meet the Press."

In May, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced it had selected Kube for its "Tex" McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism for people who "through their life's work have distinguished themselves by service to or unbiased coverage of the United States military through journalism in peace and war." Past recipients of the award include Tom Brokaw, Paul Harvey, Peggy Noonan and Jake Tapper.

Kube will accept the honor at the Medal of Honor Celebration held Tuesday through Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee. In advance of the event, Kube spoke with Joel Christopher, editor of Knox News and the Knoxville News Sentinel, about her reporting. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Previously: Medal of Honor awards master of ceremonies Gary Sinise tells how Sept. 11 was a call to service

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CHRISTOPHER: It was interesting when I was reading about you, Courtney, that you didn't set out to cover the military and national security. I read an interview in which you talked about what the preparation looked like for that. I'm really curious what that process was to become adept at covering such complex topics?

KUBE: I actually started out working on the assignment desk, then I started working for "Meet the Press" when I was pretty new at NBC and covering politics, which I loved – I studied politics in college, and I grew up in D.C. and the D.C. area.

What I realized after about four years of covering it and getting through one presidential election is that I was beginning to hate it. So I went to my boss at the time, Tim Russert, and said, "I think I need a change, what do you recommend?" And he said, "What do you want to do?" And I said, "Anything but the Pentagon." I can't cover that, I don't know anything about the military. And a few weeks later he called me and said, "We're sending you to the Pentagon, start studying. You've got six weeks."

And so I literally went to bookstores and I bought books like "The Dummy's Guide to the Aircraft Carrier" and "An Idiot's Guide of U.S. Special Operations Forces." And I started studying. I knew nothing about the military. What I realized once I got to the Pentagon and started covering the military and conflict is there's no book that really prepares you for it.

To somebody starting out, I'd say give yourself about 18 months to really learn the culture, the acronyms, and then accept the fact that you will continue to learn every single day on the job. There's always something new.

Today (June 27) is a perfect example. There's these new medium- to long-range missiles that the U.S. is talking about providing to Ukraine. I don't know much about this system. Of all the systems I've covered or we've done stories on or I've seen in action, this is one I don't know much about.

It's the reason I don't get bored – I'm constantly learning. And it's definitely something I did not plan to cover, ever. I really wonder if Tim Russert – he was such a wonderful boss, he knew so much and he was so great at managing people – I wonder if he knew it was the right fit for me, deep down, even though I didn't.

CHRISTOPHER: On a beat like national security and the military, you're dealing as a civilian with people who have been immersed in that life for their entire life in a lot of cases, and there certainly can be some tension between journalists and the military. How do you bridge that gap?

KUBE: I feel fortunate because I started covering in 2005 when embeds were pretty commonplace, and I think that broke down a lot of those barriers of the long-term hesitancy for members of the military to talk to journalists.

Now I will say, I'm seeing that shift back in some ways because embeds are less and less common because there is not as much military in conflict areas and they don't have the support, they don't have the infrastructure like we had in 2005 when we had large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So I hope that engagement continues because I understand why so many members of the military look at the media, they look at a lot of things as a risk vs. a reward. When you look at talking to a journalist, oftentimes when you just do the math, they think there's more risk here than reward.

And I think the reason the embeds program was so valuable was there was an acknowledgment that we were there to tell a story, to get the facts out and that the American people genuinely wanted to hear what the military was doing. So I hope that we don't lose that engagement going forward.

CHRISTOPHER: That's really interesting to hear you say that. As you know, with so few Americans actually serving, most people have so little familiarity with what the day-to-day lives are like for service members. How do you, especially covering things at the level you're covering, how do you ensure that the voices of people who are at lower ranks, who are feet on the ground, are making their way into your coverage?

KUBE: So the only way to really do that is to get out of the Pentagon. It's one of my favorite things to do. And frankly, with COVID, it's made it more and more difficult. But you have to get out of the Pentagon, you have to get to the bases, you have to go to Iraq and Syria and really see what's happening on the ground.

There's been a lot of frustration that we haven't been able to cover as much as we'd like to with what the U.S. military is doing in Eastern Europe right now helping to arm the Ukrainian military.

Those are the stories I really think the American people want to see. They want to hear what the military is doing. And especially something like that where it's been an amazing, Herculean effort, logistical effort that I've never witnessed.

The most important thing you can do when telling that story is get out, get to the bases. Those are the ones that I find the most informative to the American public. I have a story out just this morning about recruiting and these cultural changes that are taking place. There's this new survey that the Pentagon did that found among this key demographic of people they're looking to recruit – so it's usually 17- to 18-year-olds to 26- or 28-year-olds – among that demographic, 57% thought if they joined the military they will come out broken emotionally or psychologically.

It's those kinds of cultural shifts that I think us being able to tell the story of what people in uniform actually do on a day-to-day basis and to see what their lives are like, breaks down those civil-military barriers. Not being able to tell stories like that is I think why we're seeing shifts like that in polling.

CHRISTOPHER: You mentioned Ukraine and I think if we went back a year most Americans would not have predicted this would be a story that's dominating as much as it has. You know as well as anyone the fatigue that sometimes sets in with long-running stories like this. How do you keep people interested and how do you bring to them the importance and relevance of what's happening in Eastern Europe?

KUBE: These are the times where I think that the public might look at what's happening in Ukraine and not see a big difference day to day in what's happening on the ground. In part because if you look at the operational picture it's not really changing that much on a day-to-day basis. So that's where it's really important to bring the viewer or the reader the nuance, to explain to them why it's still so important and still so relevant.

So today (June 27) is a good example. Russia has launched off more missiles in the last week than they have in more recent weeks. So rather than just saying to our viewer or our reader, "Oh, Russia launched 60 missiles over the weekend including in some newer places they haven't been targeting, like Kiev," it's not just to bring those facts, it's to go to the defense officials and experts and say, "Why? What's the reason behind this?"

And I think that's how you keep viewers interested in the story.

It's something we struggled with in both Iraq and Afghanistan, too. I mean, look at Afghanistan, it was 20 years of conflict there. You needed to keep telling the American people and the world, really, why that was such an important story. Why it was important that the U.S. military and civilians were there and what they were doing. And if ever there was a time that we saw just how important it was for people to know what was happening, it was during the withdrawal. When you had so many Americans who didn't even know there were still U.S. troops there. And it was such an emotional story for people, that was when I was really happy that we had continued to tell that story even at the times when the American public wasn't necessarily interested in hearing about it.

I'm still trying to do stories every day on Afghanistan because it's such an important story for us to be telling: the humanitarian crisis, the national security threat that exists there, the government there, what the impacts are for the region.

CHRISTOPHER: All journalists are facing challenges, making sure people know they can be trusted. You're in a space where I think it's interesting because people really need to rely on journalists to tell them these stories that's different from, say, domestic politics. What do you do to try to make sure that people understand the importance and the veracity of your work?

KUBE: So, I actually feel really fortunate that I'm on this beat because it's a very complex beat. When you look at somehow some of these countries have decades- and centuries-long arguments and how that's impacting how they're behaving and what their policies are today, and the extremely complicated weapons systems, I feel really fortunate that I'm the one who gets to go on TV and go on the internet and explain these stories to people.

I also feel very fortunate that I'm able to go out and be with the U.S. military and bring their story back to the American people. It's a privilege and not one I take lightly.

I think that's why I work very hard understanding these complex issues and studying these systems and trying to understand when you have an announcement like the U.S. is going to provide medium- and long-range missiles to Ukraine, what does that mean? What can those missiles do? How can that impact the actual battle stage? How long will they take to get there? What are the policy implications for it, if Ukraine starts striking inside of Russia?

So because I do genuinely look at this as a privilege, that I get to tell these stories to the American public and the world, I enjoy learning the nuances and tell that to people on television. That's actually an art form, to take these complex issues and break them down in a very short time. I really do feel privileged I get to do it.

CHRISTOPHER: Your work is being recognized by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society this fall. Tell me what it means to you to have your work recognized and to be associated with this group?

KUBE: I have to say, it's the biggest professional honor that I've ever had. I can honestly say it may be the biggest professional honor I'll ever have in my career.

I'm so humbled by it, and, candidly, surprised they even selected me for this. When I look at the people who have received this award in the past, like Tom Brokaw and Peggy Noonan, they're people who I never in my wildest dreams would have ever associated myself with other than trying to walk in their shadows.

So I'm thrilled and humbled to be a part of this. I really can't imagine a bigger honor in my line of work.

CHRISTOPHER: You've had, I'm sure the same experience that I've had when you have the opportunity to speak to some of these Medal of Honor recipients. It's sobering and it's incredible to hear their life experiences. A lot of these recipients have used their platforms to advocate for causes that are important to service members and to veterans. What are the issues that you see facing service members and veterans that are most important to you?

KUBE: One that I've been spending a lot of time on and I'm interested in is the burn pit legislation. The Veterans Administration has started to recognize more and more of these potential illnesses as possibly being tied back to burn pit exposure in the military.

This is a story that has really gained a lot of traction in the last couple of years, and I think it's only going to continue to grow. It's one that I've been really proud of the reporting I've done in the past, and I want to continue to stay on it. Part of it is, I can remember being in Iraq in 2005 and standing in front of a burn pit back before anyone had any idea. And people talked about it. They talked about the smell. You could taste it in the air. There was residue on the computers and their equipment. That's one that I think is very important from a health perspective.

Another one that I think is very timely right now is how the Supreme Court decision (in the Dobbs case, overturning Roe v. Wade) is going to impact not only service members but spouses and dependents going forward. I'm fascinated by the implications this is going to have for the military.

So things like, what if a female service member doesn't want to be stationed in a state that has one of these laws? What if a male service member has a spouse who doesn't want to? What if you have a service member who needs an abortion that falls under the guidelines of when the military can provide one, but the state doesn't allow it. Will the military fly them someplace? This is something that I'm definitely watching.

Overall, health care for the military is something I'm interested in because it's something that's been a huge issue in the past couple of decades and it's only going to grow as we have service members who served in Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan and beyond and are aging and will need more and more care.

Another one is recruiting. That shows how the public perception of the military is shifting so much and how it's shifted in the past 30 years, 20 years, 10 years and now the last five years. It's a generational change, how Americans view the military and U.S. government institutions, and how that's impacting the military. I find that fascinating.

CHRISTOPHER: It's interesting to hear you talk about those shifts in perception. Am I understanding you correctly that the military is dealing with that same distrust in institutions that you see in other instances?

KUBE: The Reagan Institute put out survey back in December, and it showed that overall trust in the military was at 45%, the lowest it had been in, I think, the history of the survey. And also, Pew also put one out, and so did Gallup, so overall the American public, especially when you talk about that key demographic, their trust in U.S. government institutions has fallen overall.

The military is still an outlier in that they are generally higher in trust than others, but it still is dropping like other U.S. government institutions. I really think that we are looking at a generational change in the military.

One thing that I find really fascinating about it – that stat that I gave you earlier about 57% of (young Americans) fear they would be broken emotionally or psychologically after serving in the military – you have to wonder how coverage of wounded warriors and the military trying to break down all of these long-held perceptions of mental health issues, that's gotten a lot of coverage, which has been terrific, over the past 10 or 15 years, but with more people seeing that are they making an assumption that that is a problem in the military that would impact them if they joined?

It'd be a fascinating study for someone to do, whether more coverage of these issues has impacted the military.

CHRISTOPHER: What message are you intending to share with people at the Medal of Honor event?

KUBE: One of the reasons I'm so honored to be part of this is that so many Medal of Honor recipients are going to be there and I'm so humbled to be able to help share their stories.

Some of my favorite stories that I've done in my time at NBC News have been about these recipients when they're getting their honor and telling their backstories and their families and their fellow service members, and the fact that I get to be at an event that recognizes their service and when they are going out into the community and sharing their stories, the fact that I get to be a part of it at all, I'm so excited and honored.

And I really hope I get to bring some of their stories forward in the future.

CHRISTOPHER: It really is amazing every time you speak to one of these recipients how they're both defined by a brief moment in their lives but they've made so much from that opportunity that they're given by being Medal of Honor recipients.

KUBE: Their humility is what gets me. I'm always amazed by how they downplay their role in these events and act like they're just small players when they are the key to these heroic events.

I am so honored to be a part of this, to even be invited to be part of the event, I would have been thrilled. To have a group like this tell me that they find my work and my reporting valuable, it's one of the biggest professional honors I could ever imagine. I'm looking forward to talking to them and thanking them in person.

Joel Christopher is the editor of Knox News.
Twitter: @j_christo | Email: joel.christopher@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: NBC's Courtney Kube on national security, importance of Medal of Honor