Thompson graduated from Boston University College of Communication in 1975 and began his career where he grew up, at the "Pendulum", in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. After a spell in Pontiac, Michigan, he moved to Washington in 1979, and joined the Washington bureau of the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram". The newspaper received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a five-part series by Thompson that was published in March 1984. Thompson covered, or uncovered, a design flaw in Bell helicopters that went uncorrected for a decade and led to the deaths of 250 U.S. servicemen; in consequence of his work, 600 Huey helicopters were grounded and modified. He joined Knight-Ridder Newspapers in 1986, where he reported extensively on the Persian Gulf War and the U.S. invasion of Panama.