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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

In this image posted on the Twitter page of Ahrar al-Sham on Aug. 13, 2015, fighters from Ahrar al-Sham prepare weapons ahead of an attack on Islamic State group positions in Aleppo province, Syria. The group has vowed to defeat what it calls Russian "occupation" of Syria after Moscow began launching airstrikes on insurgents last week. (Ahrar al-Sham Twitter page via AP) ** FILE **

Obama shifts Syria policy as Russia takes lead role

With President Obama's Syria policy under new scrutiny as Russia takes a lead role in the conflict, administration officials said Friday that they will now scrap the Pentagon's still-born program for training a "moderate" Syrian opposition rebel force -- an effort that has cost millions over the past year but produced only a handful of combat-ready fighters. Published October 9, 2015

Russian naval ships launched cruise missiles Wednesday as President Vladimir Putin's military bombarded parts of Syria by air, land and sea, claiming Islamic State militants were the targets. (Associated Press)

Congress investigates U.S. intelligence failures on Russia aggression in Syria

Key lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees have begun probing whether the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies failed to clearly predict the scope of Russia's military incursion into Syria -- an intervention of fighter jets, ground troops and dozens of cruise missiles fired across some 930 miles from warships in the Caspian Sea. Published October 8, 2015

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq chant slogans and hold banners during a tour organized by the Iraqi government for foreign diplomats in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2012. Sen. John McCain says successive U.S. administrations have broken their promise to protect the group, which is increasingly under threat of Iranian government-backed militias. (Associated Press)

Obama faces bipartisan push to assist Iranian dissidents trapped in Iraq

Key lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed the Obama administration to do more to help relocate members of a controversial Iranian dissident group confined to a camp in Iraq, a group that the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee credits with providing "useful intelligence" on Tehran's secret nuclear activities. Published October 7, 2015

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, Arizona Republican, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 22, 2015. (Associated Press)

John McCain: U.S. must do more to protect Iranian dissident group

The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee says the U.S. is not doing enough to help relocate from Iraq members of controversial Iranian dissident group that has a record of providing Washington with "useful intelligence" on Iran's clandestine nuclear activities. Published October 7, 2015

Civilians inspect the aftermath of a car bombing near a restaurant in a commercial area of central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. Iraqi officials say a car bomb exploded around midnight Monday in central Baghdad killing and wounding civilians. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) ** FILE **

Iraq a ‘client state’ of Iran, former Obama adviser says

President Obama's former national security adviser warned Wednesday that Iranian leaders have effectively turned Iraq into a "client state" and are bent on exploiting the regional war against the Sunni Muslim Islamic State group to promote their own brand of Shiite extremism throughout the Middle East. Published October 7, 2015

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said warplanes believed to be Russian have targeted the northern town of Al-Bab, Syria. Some see the fight among Middle East factions as a proxy war between Russia and the U.S. (Associated Press)

Iran an unlikely beneficiary of Russia’s military campaign in Syria

Russia's stepped-up military campaign in Syria is not only offering a lifeline to the embattled Assad regime, it is providing badly needed relief for Iranian proxies that will enable them to move more aggressively in the region's other conflicts -- in particular in Yemen, where a war between Tehran-backed rebels and Saudi Arabia has been raging for months. Published October 6, 2015

A Nasr missile is loaded on a military vehicle during the Pakistan National Day parade in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, March 23, 2015. (Associated Press)

Sohail Aman denies China helped Pakistan acquire armed drones

Reports that China helped Pakistan's military acquire armed drones are wrong, according to the head of the Pakistani air force, who said engineers in his nation developed the technology on their own and Washington should increase coordination with Islamabad to target and eliminate al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Published October 5, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin is engaging with the world community. He said he wants to be remembered as the man who restored his country's greatness. (Associated Press)

Vladimir Putin keeps tumultuous world guessing

Moscow's bombings in Syria, coupled with Vladimir Putin's railing against the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly last week, have thrust the Russian president into the global spotlight and rejuvenated debate over the extent to which he is an evil geopolitical genius, a strategically brilliant hustler -- or some combination of both. Published October 4, 2015

Without clearer American leadership and backing, said Awan Riak, a top adviser to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the cycle of violence that has gripped the country since it achieved independence will only continue.

U.S. has obligation to support South Sudan, top diplomat says

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: The struggling government of South Sudan says the U.S. must do more to support the democracy it helped create in the nation four years ago, asserting that the Obama administration and the international community are unfairly blaming the leadership in Juba for dragging its feet on a peace deal with rebels in the country's civil war. Published October 1, 2015

CIA Director John Brennan speaks during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., in this Dec. 11, 2014, file photo. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

CIA goes live with new cyber directorate, massive internal reorganization

The CIA officially launched its new cyber-focused directorate Thursday, capping a massive internal reorganization that intelligence officials say will also include the agency's first ever creation of six regional command centers aimed at streamlining U.S. spying activities across the globe. Published October 1, 2015

Smoke rises after airstrikes in western Syria in this image by Homs Media Centre, which has been verified by AP reporting. (Associated Press)

Russia airstrikes in Syria alarm Obama critics

Russia followed its launch of airstrikes in Syria with a call Wednesday for the world to unite and form a coalition in the fight against terrorist groups, raising concerns that the Obama administration was caught flatfooted and prompting calls for President Obama to "wake up" and reassert American leadership in the Middle East. Published September 30, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton (Associated Press/File)

Hillary Clinton campaign supporters skip foundation’s Global Initiative summit

There was some overlap between the guest list at this week's annual Clinton Global Initiative summit in New York and the list of supporters for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. But the more telling development was how many no-shows there were -- as Mrs. Clinton's biggest backers apparently stayed away in an attempt to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Published September 30, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attends the United Nations Security Council, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, at the U.N. headquarters. During the meeting, Kerry delivered remarks encouraging the international community to end the conflict in Syria. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

John Kerry: U.S. open to Russia hitting Islamic State in Syria

Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday the Obama administration is "prepared to welcome" the Russian military's bombardment of al Qaeda and Islamic State targets in Syria, but will continue for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Published September 30, 2015

This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now called the Islamic State group, marching in Raqqa, Syria. (AP Photo/Militant Website, File)

Obama admin sanctions ISIS facilitators, attempts to cut terror group’s funding

The Obama administration said Tuesday that it has identified 15 key Islamic State facilitators with a range of backgrounds -- from Yemen to the U.K., Indonesia, Bosnia, Pakistan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia -- and will level sanctions against them with the goal of blocking their and the terrorist group's access to the international financial system. Published September 29, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his U.N. speech, aims to project power and poke a geopolitical finger in America's eye, intelligence sources say. (Associated Press)

Vladimir Putin’s plans for Russian military in Syria has U.N., Obama on edge

Vladimir Putin's speech Monday is shaping up to be biggest of this year's U.N. General Assembly, as Obama administration officials brace for the Russian leader to lambaste their failed Syria policy and call on the world to get behind his plan for saving the war-torn Middle East from the clutches of the Islamic State. Published September 27, 2015

Syrian President Bashar Assad (SANA via AP, File)

Philip Gordon, former top Obama adviser, slams White House Syria strategy

President Obama's former top adviser on Middle East policy says the time has come for the administration to rethink its demand that Syrian President Bashar Assad must step down -- a stipulation that has underpinned the White House's approach to Syria's war for the past four years. Published September 25, 2015

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter (Associated Press) **FILE**

Ashton Carter: Russian buildup in Syria could ‘pour gasoline’ on ISIS

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says Russia's expanding military buildup in Syria could "pour gasoline on the [Islamic State] phenomenon," because Moscow is bent on backing one of the extremist group's top enemies -- embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad. Published September 24, 2015

Secretary of State John Kerry answers a question about the ongoing crisis in Syria during a news conference with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, in London. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

John Kerry hails Colombia’s peace deal with FARC rebel group

The mood will be one of optimism when Secretary of State John F. Kerry meets on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next week with Colombia's president, who just announced a major breakthrough toward a deal to end the nation's decades-old war with the leftist FARC rebel group. Published September 24, 2015

Migrants, mostly Syrians, listen to an Arabic speaker talk to them about their future as they rest in a stadium used for traditional Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling, while waiting to cross to Europe near Turkey’s western border with Greece and Bulgaria, in Edirne, Turkey, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. Hundreds of migrants have made the trek to Edirne in the hope of being allowed to cross into neighboring Greece or Bulgaria and avoid the often-risky journey across the Aegean Sea. Many arrived last week but have been blocked from approaching the border by law enforcement.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Syrian refugees being shunned by Gulf states

The refugee crisis surging from the Middle East to Europe has ignited a heated debate over the extent to which the Persian Gulf's wealthiest nations -- namely Saudi Arabia -- are doing enough to take in and help the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Published September 23, 2015