Suzanne Smalley returned to Newsweek as a national correspondent in July 2007 after spending three years covering police and crime for the Boston Globe. At the Globe she broke several major stories, including news of the federal indictment of three Boston police officers and a feature story documenting how police and clergy arranged a secret truce between two of Boston's most violent street gangs. She also won awards for her expose on excessive state trooper salaries and for a series of articles about the fatal police shooting of a college student celebrating outside Fenway Park in the wake of the Red Sox American League Championship victory over the Yankees.

Prior to her three-year stint at the Globe from 2004 to 2007, Smalley worked at Newsweek as a reporter covering the 2004 presidential campaign as part of Newsweek's Campaign Special Project Team. In that position, she followed the campaigns of several Democratic candidates across the country, filing behind the scenes reporting for a Newsweek special issue published immediately after the election. The National Magazine Awards recognized the project, awarding Newsweek the prestigious best single-topic issue honor. The reporting was later used in a book titled "Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future."

Before her election coverage, Smalley covered several major breaking news stories for Newsweek, including the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the disappearance of Chandra Levy, and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.

A native of Coral Gables, Florida, Smalley graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and received a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School.