Al Kamen, an award-winning columnist on the national staff of The Washington Post, created the “In the Loop” column in 1993. He began his reporting career at the Rocky Mountain News and joined The Post in 1980. He has covered local and federal courts, the Supreme Court and the State Department. Kamen assisted Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in writing “The Final Days” and Woodward and Scott Armstrong in writing “The Brethren.” Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he graduated from McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio and Harvard College.