Chris Adams joined the investigative team in 2003, and previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune.

In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (with colleagues Greg Gordon and Kevin Hall) for detailing the double-dealing and lack of oversight that contributed to the nation's financial meltdown. He also was a Pulitzer finalist in 1996 and 1999, and in 2000 was part of a six-person Journal team that won the Pulitzer for coverage of military spending issues.

His previous work for the Washington Bureau won several awards, including the National Press Club award for best Washington reporting, the NIHCM Foundation Annual Health Care Journalism Award, the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for best Washington reporting, the Society of Professional Journalists Award for best Washington reporting, a Heywood Broun Award, the Gerald Loeb Award for outstanding business reporting, and the National Headliner Award. Before joining the bureau, his reporting won the George Polk, Robert F. Kennedy, Worth Bingham, Clark Mollenhoff, Investigative Reporters & Editors, and Livingston awards.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University and the University of New Orleans. He also teaches journalism at American University.