NBC hired Miklaszewski first as a Pentagon correspondent in 1985 where he joined US forces during the "Tanker Wars" in the Persian Gulf. Jim was later assigned to cover President George H. W. Bush during the first Gulf War with Iraq, and summits with Mikhail Gorbachev, and Boris Yeltsin. He remained in the White House for President Bill Clinton's first term and reelection. Miklaszewski returned to the Pentagon where he covered the 9/11 attack, the US invasion of Iraq ordered by President George W. Bush, and ultimately the US Navy SEALs operation that killed Osama bin Laden.