■ EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

Cole grew up in Burlington, Iowa.

His father worked for the county government,

and his mother was a nurse.

His father worked regular hours,

came home every evening,

and supported his family.

For Cole,

this became his earliest model

of what an adult man should be.

He naturally assumed that one day,

he would build a home much like his father’s.

Today,

he has a wife and a daughter.

He majored in journalism in college.

■ LOCAL NEWSPAPER YEARS

After graduating from college,

Cole joined a local newspaper.

He covered police,

courts, accidents,

and local government.

In 2006,

he was assigned to report on

an industrial accident in Iowa.

■ TURNING POINT

— THE IOWA ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT EXPLOSION

On June 12, 2006,

an explosion occurred

at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant,

killing two workers.

The plant described it

as an accident that occurred

during routine operations.

Cole continued investigating

after the initial statement was released.

During his investigation,

he found records indicating that

explosives marked for disposal

had been assigned new lot numbers

and put back into use as finished products.

If rejected material had been reused

simply to meet a deadline,

Cole believed it could amount

to criminal wrongdoing by the company.

If public officials had protected the company,

that could amount to corruption

and a cover-up.

Cole then investigated whether

the lot numbers had been deliberately changed

from the outset.

If so,

it raised the possibility

that government officials had been involved

in an effort to remove the explosives

from official records.

Cole was unable to establish

the full scope of any such operation.

He found records and connections

that pointed in that direction.

Case details:

→ REFERENCE

“2006 Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Explosion”

Shortly afterward,

Cole was removed from the accident assignment

and transferred to a records-and-archives role

within the editorial department.

Within the newspaper,

the transfer was treated

as a routine personnel decision.

To Cole, however,

it was clear that

this was no ordinary transfer.

He continued investigating independently

after the transfer,

but the article was never published

by the newspaper.

Eventually,

he left the newspaper

and joined a tabloid.

He remains there today

as a reporter.