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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

From the Islamic State's circulation on social media of photos depicting a so-called "cyclops baby" to its fixation on a Syrian town where the prophecies say the final battle will occur, analysts say the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is tapping mythology to convince his followers that the apocalypse has already begun. (Associated Press)

Apocalypse prophecies drive Islamic State strategy, recruiting efforts

Leaders of the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq are infatuated with apocalyptic Muslim prophecies foretelling a titanic final battle of good and evil that even involves the re-emergence of Jesus Christ to join their cause at the end of time in the Middle East. Published January 5, 2015

Members of the Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident group, participate in a demonstration Sunday in Havana. Cuban authorities have reportedly detained overnight dozens of pro-democracy and free speech activists this week, including at least three members of the nation's political opposition ahead of a planned protest art performance in Havana. (Associated Press)

Cuba crackdown on political dissidents tests Obama diplomatic outreach

The Obama administration has responded harshly to the Cuban government's arrest this week of political dissidents planning a protest in downtown Havana, casting an uncomfortable shadow over the historic detente announced just weeks before between the U.S. and the Castro regime. Published December 31, 2014

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is under fire for doing little to uncover the whereabouts of 43 missing university students and facing accusations of cronyism. (Associated Press)

Washington questions if scandal-plagued Mexican president can implement reforms

Mexico's once-ultrapopular President Enrique Pena Nieto has become so scandal-plagued that questions are swirling in Washington on whether his government will be capable in 2015 of implementing such groundbreaking reforms as the U.S.-supported and politically delicate privatization of the nation's oil sector. Published December 29, 2014

President Nicolas Maduro — the hand-picked successor to the late socialist Hugo Chavez — faces mounting international criticism for jailing opposition figures after months of street protests. (Associated Press)

Oil prices push Venezuela to brink of economic collapse

The ongoing plunge in global oil prices is pushing Venezuela toward economic collapse just as President Nicolas Maduro — the hand-picked successor to the late socialist Hugo Chavez — faces mounting international criticism for jailing opposition figures after months of street protests. Published December 25, 2014

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Associated Press) ** FILE **

U.S. coy about North Korea Internet failure as retaliation speculation swirls

The U.N. Security Council took the groundbreaking step of placing North Korea's bleak human rights record in the official spotlight Monday, as speculation surged that Washington has now secretly hacked into — and effectively brought to a halt — Pyongyang's Internet infrastructure in apparent retaliation for the Asian nation's suspected cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Published December 22, 2014

Central Intelligence Director Director John Brennan gestures during a news conference at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CIA urged to build rapport with terrorists to extract intelligence

In building a case for their sweeping conclusion that the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques were simply "not effective" during the years after 9/11, Senate Democrats cited in their report example after example in which another tactic, known as "rapport-building," succeeded in extracting valuable intelligence from al Qaeda suspects. Published December 21, 2014

Indonesian Armed Forces Chief Gen. Moeldoko said that the threat now presents an opportunity for the U.S.-Indonesian military relationship to expand (Associated Press)

Indonesia wants to aid U.S. in Islamic State fight, top military commander says

Indonesia's top military commander said in an interview that the world's most populous Muslim nation sees the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq as a grave threat to the world and that Jakarta wants to increase coordination with Washington to counter the radical group's rise in Southeast Asia. Published December 18, 2014

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 6, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**

House intel chief: Threats rising, Obama failing in terror war

The outgoing head of the House Intelligence Committee said Friday that the U.S. under President Obama is not doing enough to combat terrorism around the world and that the threat posed by extremist Islamic militants today is as great as it has been at any time since before 9/11. Published December 12, 2014

Central Intelligence Director (CIA) Director John Brennan gestures during a news conference at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. Brennan is pushing back hard against the wave of criticism following a Senate Intelligence Committee report detailing harsh interrogation tactics employed by intelligence community people against terrorism war-era detainees. Brennan and several past CIA leaders fear the historical record may define them as torturers instead of patriots. The CIA is now in the uncomfortable position of defending itself publicly, given its basic mission to protect the country secretly. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

John Brennan: Senate report on CIA interrogations ‘flawed’

CIA Director John O. Brennan on Thursday criticized Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Democrats for producing a "flawed" report on enhanced interrogation techniques that failed to interview key personnel about their decisions, offering a half-throated defense of the defunct program that he maintained had provided valuable information used to thwart terror attacks and track down terrorists. Published December 11, 2014

Retired Marine Gen. John Allen during a November 2012 press conference (File/Associated Press).

U.S. ‘very closely’ monitoring worldwide spread of Islamic State

President Obama's top adviser overseeing the coalition fighting the Islamic State said Thursday that U.S. officials are "very closely" monitoring the potential spread of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's extremist movement beyond Syria and Iraq, especially as international efforts ramp up toward crushing the group in those two nations. Published December 11, 2014

Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

House criticizes White House on Islamic State progress

Sparks flew at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when a key Republican accused the White House of "dithering" in its strategy for destroying the Islamic State group, while a top administration official argued the fight is in only its "earliest phase" and that progress is likely to be "uneven going forward." Published December 10, 2014

This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 4, 2014, which is consistent with other AP reporting, shows Shakir Waheib, a senior member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now called the Islamic State group, left, next to a burning police vehicle in Iraq's Anbar Province. (AP Photo via militant website, File)

Qatar allows money to flow to Islamic State, other terrorists: report

The government of Qatar continues to willfully turn a blind eye to individuals channeling money to al Qaeda-affiliated groups across the Middle East, as well as to Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq, despite joining a U.S.-led military coalition battling the group, according to a report released Wednesday by a think tank in Washington. Published December 10, 2014

Push Back: CIA Director John O. Brennan claims the interrogation techniques used by the CIA post 9/11 saved American lives. (Associated Press)

CIA refutes ‘torture report,’ says interrogation tactics thwarted terror plots

The CIA hit back angrily against the findings of the long-awaited "torture report" by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday by claiming that the techniques used on terror suspects after 9/11 yielded "valuable and unique intelligence" that helped disrupt future attacks and directly aided in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Published December 9, 2014

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. is pursued by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, as she arrives to release a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities after the 9/11 terror attacks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Report suggests CIA misled DOJ on frequency of waterboarding

A Senate report on the harsh treatment of terrorism suspects during interrogation says evidence suggests the CIA used "waterboarding" on more than three detainees, contrary to what the agency has previously told the Justice Department. Published December 9, 2014

Ashton Carter, President Obama's nominee for defense secretary, is expected to cruise through his confirmation hearings, though the GOP is preparing to hit at the president's security policy and lack of vision. (Associated press)

Obama to take hits at Ashton Carter confirmation

Ashton Carter is expected to cruise to confirmation as the Obama administration's fourth defense secretary in just six years, even as Republicans prepare to use his confirmation hearing to hammer the president's national security policy for lacking organization and vision. Published December 7, 2014