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Guy Taylor

Guy Taylor

Guy Taylor is the National Security Editor at The Washington Times, overseeing the paper's State Department, Pentagon and intelligence coverage and driving the daily Threat Status newsletter. He has reported from dozens of countries and been a guest on the BBC, CNN, NPR, FOX, C-SPAN and The McLaughlin Group.

A series Mr. Taylor led on Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election was recognized with a Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, and a Society for Professional Journalists award. In 2012, he won a Virginia Press Association award reporting from Mexico.

Prior to joining The Times in 2011, Mr. Taylor was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Fund For Investigative Journalism. He wrote for a variety publications, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to Salon, Reason, Prospect, the Daily Star of Beirut, the Jerusalem Post and the St. Petersburg Times. He also served as an editor at World Politics Review, wrote for America's Quarterly and produced videos and features for Agence France-Presse.

Mr. Taylor holds an M.S. in Global Security Studies from Angelo State University and a B.A. from Clark University. He was part of a team who won a Society of Professional Journalists award for their reporting on the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

He can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.

Threat Status Influencers Videos

Go behind the scenes with Washington Times National Security Editor Guy Taylor as he interviews officials and experts directly involved in the most important global security, foreign policy, and technology issues impacting America's position in the world.

Threat Status Podcast

An edgy and informative look at the biggest U.S. national security and geopolitical issues making headlines right now. Less about hot takes and more about depth, the Threat Status podcast is helmed by veteran Washington Times journalists Ben Wolfgang and Guy Taylor and features regular appearances by insiders with expertise on war, politics and global affairs.

Special Report: Vlad's Vengeance

Inside Putin's 'hybrid warfare' on the U.S. Click here to read more.

Articles by Guy Taylor

Secretary of State John Kerry said he is aware that the Saudis are unhappy that the U.S. has not followed through on threats to use force against the Syrian regime after its use of chemical weapons.

Saudis want more action from U.S. in Syrian crisis

The Obama administration Tuesday acknowledged frustration among Saudi Arabian leaders over U.S. unwillingness to play a more aggressive, perhaps even militarized, role in the Syrian civil war — but downplayed reports of a growing fissure in relations between Riyadh and Washington. Published October 22, 2013

A trip Secretary of State John F. Kerry is making to France has been complicated by a French newspaper's report about data mining by the National Security Agency that resulted in tens of millions of digital communications being collected. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Kerry faces firestorm in France over NSA snooping

Seeking to tamp down the latest diplomatic crisis stemming from the NSA snooping scandal, President Obama called French President Francois Hollande to allay French outrage after the revelation the U.S. spied on tens of millions of phone calls and text messages in France. Published October 21, 2013

FILE - In this Oct. 26, 2010 file photo, a worker rides a bicycle in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran. The chances for progress between Iran, the U.S. and its partners have seldom been better. This is the message coming from Iran and six world powers ahead of renewed talks this week meant to end a decade of deadlock on Tehran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Mehr News Agency, Majid Asgaripour, File)

Cautious optimism surfaces amid progress in Iranian nuclear talks

Under pressure from Congress and Israel to resist rushing into a hasty deal, the Obama administration reacted cautiously to news from Geneva on Wednesday of progress in the international talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Published October 16, 2013

U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, center, waits for the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland. Iran's overtures to the West are being tested as the U.S. and its partners sit down for the first talks on Tehran's nuclear program since the election of a reformist Iranian president. Negotiations between Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany began Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini, pool)

Caution voiced on Iran’s nuclear program proposal; Israel still wary

The Obama administration responded with caution Tuesday to a new Iranian offer to scale back — but not eliminate — its uranium enrichment program and allow increased international monitoring in exchange for the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions that have damaged the Islamic republic's economy and oil industry in recent years. Published October 15, 2013

** FILE ** A Syrian rebel fighter returns from fighting Syrian army forces in Aleppo. (Associated Press)

U.S. allies let funds flow to al Qaeda in Syria

The United States has had limited success cutting off funding to the al Qaeda-linked fighters and foreign jihadists flowing into Syria — in part because of a lack of cooperation on the part of Middle Eastern allies, Intelligence and national security community sources say. Published October 13, 2013

** FILE ** An unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan on a moonlit night in January 2010. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Drone strikes plummet as U.S. seeks more human intelligence

The number of drone strikes approved by the Obama administration on suspected terrorists has fallen dramatically this year, as the war with al Qaeda increasingly shifts to Africa and U.S. intelligence craves more captures and interrogations of high-value targets. Published October 9, 2013

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wants Abu Anas al-Libi taken to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an enemy combatant and interrogated. (Associated Press)

Sen. Graham wants al-Libi sent quickly to Guantanamo for interrogation

Three influential Republican lawmakers slammed the Obama administration's handling of Abu Anas al-Libi, the suspected high-level al Qaeda operative captured by American commandos in Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday, saying the terrorist now being held and interrogated on a U.S. Navy ship on the Mediterranean Sea should be transferred quickly to the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay. Published October 8, 2013

FILE - This file image from the FBI website shows Abu Anas al-Libi, an al-Qaeda leader connected to the 1998 embassy bombings in eastern Africa and wanted by the United States for more than a decade. Al-Libi was captured in a raid Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, and is being held aboard the USS San Antonio, a warship mainly used to transport troops. Instead of sending suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay or secret CIA "black" sites for interrogation, the Obama administration is questioning them aboard U.S. naval vessels. (AP Photo/FBI, File)

GOP lawmakers want captured Libyan in Guantanamo

Three influential Republican lawmakers slammed the Obama administration's handling of Abu Anas al-Libi, the suspected high-level al Qaeda operative captured by American commandos in Tripoli on Saturday, saying the terrorist now being held and interrogated on a U.S. Navy ship on the Mediterranean Sea should be quickly transferred to the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay. Published October 8, 2013

U.S. Navy SEALs in action. (U.S. Navy photo)

SEALs take over for drones as U.S. ups the stakes in fight against Al Qaeda

Clandestine U.S. military raids on terrorist targets in North Africa suggest the Obama administration is eager to send a message to an emerging generation of al Qaeda fighters: It does not matter where on the globe you are hiding, the U.S. is tracking you and willing to exert stealth military muscle — not just drones — to take you down. Published October 7, 2013

In this file photo, a young boy leads the hard-line Islamist al-Shabaab fighters as they conduct a military exercise in northern Mogadishu's Suqaholaha neighborhood in Somalia. (Associated Press) **FILE**

U.S. youths recruited for Somali terror group al-Shabab, hearing told

The head of the largest Somali-American youth organization told Congress on Thursday that the United States faces "an uphill battle" in the fight against the Somalia-based al-Shabab terrorist network's active recruiting operations in American cities. Published October 3, 2013

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro visits the General Command of the Bolivarian National Guard in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. Maduro announced the expulsion of U.S. charge d'affaires Kelly Keiderling and two other diplomats last Monday, accusing them of conspiring with "the extreme right" to sabotage the country's economy and power grid. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Expulsions from Venezuela show tensions endure in post-Chavez era

Tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats by Venezuela and the United States this week show there has been little thawing in the tense relations between the two nations — more than six months after the death of outspoken Washington critic President Hugo Chavez and a week after President Obama was willing to talk by phone with Iran's new president. Published October 2, 2013

During a meeting Monday with President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "We have a saying in Hebrew, we call it 'mivchan hatotza'a.' You would say it in English, 'What's the bottom line?' And the bottom line, again, is that Iran fully dismantles its military nuclear program." (Associated press)

Netanyahu meets Obama at White House, shows support for nonmilitary Iran plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned the U.S. not to be fooled by Iran's recent openness toward negotiations with the West, but he also suggested for the first time that Israel could back a deal in which Iran proceeds with a nuclear program — as long as the program is not militarized. Published September 30, 2013

A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his son outside their home in Habit village, the Syrian central province of Hama, Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2013. (AP Photo)

U.N. votes to destroy Syrian chemical weapons stockpile

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Friday night to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons — putting the weight of previously divided world powers behind the recent deal between the U.S. and Russia to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad into giving up his chemical stockpile. Published September 27, 2013

Secretary of State John F. Kerry had a rare one-on-one meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany during the 68th session of the U.N. General Assembly. (Associated Press)

U.N. reaches deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons; U.S. and Iran open talks

The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members reached an agreement Thursday to push through a resolution calling for the swift elimination of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, a key development in fast-paced day of diplomacy that also featured the highest-level U.S.-Iranian meeting in years. Published September 26, 2013

President Barack Obama pauses during his joint news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, at the Rosenbad Building in Stockholm, Sweden. The president said international community and Congress credibility on the line on response to Syria. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

White House pulls back on Assad ouster talk

The recent U.S.-Russia deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons found the White House toning down its previous calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign. Published September 25, 2013

**FILE** Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

Freeze! Global gun grab treaty ‘dead in the water,’ Inhofe says

Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Wednesday formally signed a far-reaching international treaty in New York designed to regulate the international purchase and sale of conventional firearms — despite intense resistance from the American gun lobby and warnings from at least one Republican that the pact will never get ratified in Washington. Published September 24, 2013

Kenyan security personnel motion to bystanders to take cover as gunfire erupts from the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Monday. Multiple blasts rocked the mall on the third day of a hostage siege. Al-Shabab terrorists were holding an unknown number of people. (Associated Press)

Terrorist attacks on soft targets feared in U.S.

U.S. law enforcement authorities are investigating claims, first made via Twitter over the weekend by the al-Shabab terrorist network and now by the Kenyan government, that three Somali-Americans are among the gunmen who committed the mall massacre in Kenya. Published September 23, 2013

"Destroying chemical weapons is extremely challenging," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. A chemical weapons oxidation facility is being constructed in his state. (Associated Press)

U.S. and Russia press Syria, but are slow to destroy their own chemical weapons

As the Obama administration presses the United Nations this week to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, it faces the stark reality that the United States has failed to meet a 2012 deadline to destroy its remaining arsenal and has never pressured its closest Middle East ally, Israel, to sign the treaty banning such weapons. Published September 22, 2013