Linzer was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press, based in
Jerusalem. She then became a national security reporter for
The Washington Post, where she covered intelligence and
nonproliferation, and reported on the
futile search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In February 2008, the
non-profit journalism organization ProPublica announced that Linzer (along with
Jeff Gerth) would be joining the project as senior reporters. At ProPublica, Linzer wrote the "Shades of Mercy" series on racial bias in presidential
pardons. The series was a finalist for the
Harvard Shorenstein Center's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Linzer also conducted work on the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp under the
Obama presidency, which won a 2010
Overseas Press Club Award and an honorable mention for the
Silver Gavel Awards of the
American Bar Association. Ali claimed that Linzer had bullied him on behalf of the
Democratic National Committee to delay a story for publication. He wrote, "I realized that @DafnaLinzer, the head of all political coverage for
NBC News and
MSNBC wasn't calling to advocate for her network, she was calling to advocate the DNC's position. She wanted me to wait so they could call state party leaders". ==Personal life==