Linnee became AP's Madrid bureau chief in 1982. She was the first American woman to head a bureau for the AP in Europe. During her 14 years as Madrid Bureau chief, she led coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and worked as a correspondent in Sarajevo during the Balkans War. In 1996, she became AP bureau chief in Nairobi. At that post, she oversaw coverage of terrorism in Somalia, Rwanda after genocide, and the 1998 embassy bombings in the region.