Hollie McKay is a writer, war crimes investigator, and the author of “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield.” (Jocko Publishing/Di Angelo Publications 2021). She was an investigative and international affairs/war correspondent for Fox News Digital for over fourteen years, where she focused on war, terrorism, and crimes against humanity.
As of October 2025, Hollie serves as the Research Director for geopolitical risk firm GlobalStrat Ltd., based in Washington D.C., where Hollie leads the research portfolio across geopolitical risk, conflict analysis, and threat forecasting.
Hollie’s career is prolific. She has worked on the frontlines of several major war zones and covered humanitarian and diplomatic crises in Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Russia, Africa, Latin America, and other areas.
Hollie was in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, where she became one of the few western journalists to stay in the country during and after the government fell to the Taliban. She was then the only American journalist to stay behind for the long haul, witnessing the first four months of the new regime.
Hollie was then based in Ukraine to cover the leadup and subsequent invasion by Russian forces. Hollie continued to write and report on Afghanistan for numerous publications, including the New York Post, Empire Media Group, National Review, Liberty Dispatches, National Interest, Deadline Hollywood, The Independent, Dallas Morning News, Skillset Magazine, Recoil Magazine and SmartHer News.
Her globally-spanned coverage, in the form of thousands of print articles and essays, has included exclusive and detailed interviews with numerous captured terrorists, as well as high-ranking government, military, and intelligence officials and leaders from all sides. Hollie also provided television and radio coverage for dozens of major outlets, including BBC World Service, NPR, ABC News Australia, Fox News, Sky News, The Ben Shapiro Show and KTLA.
Her coffee table book collaboration with combat photographer Jake Simkin entitled “Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and Rise of the Taliban Rule” (DiAngelo Publications) was released in 2022.
Hollie is a 40 Under 40 Honoree by the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) and a 2022 Media Fellow for the Foundation of Defense of Democracies (FDD). She is an honorary board member for EMERGENCY USA, a non-governmental organization that assists victims of conflict worldwide. In 2021, McKay was the recipient of the EMERGENCY honors award for “her commitment and dedication to providing surgical and medical care to people affected by war and poverty.”
Hollie also serves as the Outreach Director for the humanitarian non-profit, Burnt Children Relief Foundation (BCRF), that brings severely bomb-burned Syrian children to the U.S. for life-saving treatment.
Hollie is based in Washington, D.C.