Gee began reporting from the Middle East for Cox Newspapers in a series of temporary assignments after the 9/11 attacks. He was part of a team of reporters who covered the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

A Kentucky native, Gee received a bachelor?s degree in 1994 from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, completing a double major in International Studies, with concentrations in French and political science. He took his first reporting job at The Monitor, the daily newspaper in McAllen, Texas, where he covered federal courts along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 1998, he completed a three-month National Press Foundation Spanish Language Fellowship in Cuernavaca, Mexico. A year later, he took a job at the Austin American-Statesman, where he was a three-time finalist for The Livingston Awards, for excellence by journalists under age 35.

In 2004, Gee left the Statesman to pursue a master?s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. As part of his academic program, he studied Arabic in Jordan, Egypt and the West Bank. After graduating in 2006, Gee was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to continue language study in Damascus, Syria. In October 2007, Gee returned to Cox Newspapers and took up his current posting in April 2008.