Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement
Author profile
Guy Taylor

Guy Taylor

gtaylor@washingtontimes.com

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

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican (Associated Press)

4 sent back to work after missteps on Benghazi

Secretary of State John F. Kerry has reinstated four employees implicated in security lapses from last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, drawing sharp rebukes Tuesday from leading Republicans who said the moves mean nobody has been fired or held accountable.

August 20, 2013
A supporter of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clashes with security forces in Cairo's Nasr City district. (Associated Press)

Obama’s foreign policy fails to gain footing in renewed Middle East

The Middle East pro-democracy movement hailed over the past two years as the Arab Spring was transformed Wednesday when the military junta now controlling Egypt opened a bloody assault on protesters — a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown that seemed to expose the limits of American diplomatic power to pursue lofty goals once envisioned for the region.

August 14, 2013
** FILE ** In this 2013 file photo, House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, deemed Mr. Snowden "a traitor" for disclosing information that "puts Americans at risk" and "shows our adversaries what our capabilities are." (Associated Press)

NSA leaker Edward Snowden heats up simmering security debate to boil

Some call him a patriot whistleblower, while others say he is neither patriot nor whistleblower — and may be even a traitor. Either way, Edward Snowden has become a Rorschach test for how Americans young and old see their government and how it balances security with privacy.

August 14, 2013
** FILE ** A man examines documents at the gutted U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. The Justice Department has filed charges against Libyan militia leader Ahmed Khatallah, the first indictment in last year’s deadly terrorist attack that killed four Americans. (Associated Press)

Obama’s drone strategy covers new legal, moral ground

The Obama administration departed from its drone strategy when it filed secret criminal charges against men suspected of carrying out last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya, but the tactic works, analysts say, only if the U.S. can get its hands on the men.

August 11, 2013
**FILE** Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican (Associated Press)

Rohrabacher backs Obama policy on drone strikes

A senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday praised the Obama administration's policy of using of drones in the evolving war on terrorism, saying he has no problem with the precedent being set by the legally controversial policy and would not be bothered if other world powers — specifically Russia — began using drones to kill terrorists.

August 9, 2013
** FILE ** A man examines documents at the gutted U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. The Justice Department has filed charges against Libyan militia leader Ahmed Khatallah, the first indictment in last year’s deadly terrorist attack that killed four Americans. (Associated Press)

Under pressure, Obama administration files first charges in Benghazi attack

The Justice Department has filed criminal charges against Libyan militia leader Ahmed Khatallah, the first indictment in last year's deadly terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi — signaling a shift in a case whose political undertones have roiled the Obama administration over the past 11 months.

August 6, 2013
A Yemeni soldier inspects a car at a checkpoint on a street leading to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013. Security forces close access roads, put up extra blast walls and beef up patrols near some of the 21 U.S. diplomatic missions in the Muslim world that Washington ordered closed for the weekend over a "significant threat'' of an al Qaeda attack. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Terrorist scare tests Obama’s campaign claim; not far on the ‘path to defeat’

Even as the White House insisted that the U.S. has made great strides in the war against terrorism under President Obama, the president's spokesman acknowledged Monday that officials cannot rule out the possibility that the latest terrorist plot apparently discussed between top al Qaeda operatives could jeopardize the U.S. homeland.

August 5, 2013
A Yemeni soldier inspects a car at a checkpoint on a street leading to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, on Aug. 4, 2013. Security forces close access roads, put up extra blast walls and beef up patrols near some of the 21 U.S. diplomatic missions in the Muslim world that Washington ordered closed for the weekend over a "significant threat'' of an al Qaeda attack. (Associated Press)

No Benghazi link in embassy shutdown order, State Department says

The Obama administration's decision to shutter 20 embassies and consulates across the Arab world this week had nothing to do with the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, State Department officials insisted Monday, while offering little new information on what prompted the extraordinary security measures.

August 5, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry stands between Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni (right) and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat as they shake hands after the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on July 30, 2013, at the State Department in Washington. (Associated Press)

Kerry seeks Israeli-Palestinian agreement by April

Secretary of State John F. Kerry set an ambitious schedule Tuesday for new peace talks between Israel and Palestine, saying the goal is to achieve a "final-status agreement" between the two sides by the end of April.

July 30, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry stands with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk at the State Department as he announces that Indyk will shepherd the Israeli Palestinian peace talks beginning in Washington on July 29, 2013. (Associated Press)

Amid Mideast revolt, a chance for Israeli-Palestinian peace

As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met at a State Department dinner Monday night for their first direct talks in more than three years, some in Washington's foreign policy community said ongoing meltdowns in other Middle Eastern nations may have created a rare window for peace between the two sides.

July 29, 2013
** FILE ** Victoria Nuland (Associated Press)

Benghazi talking points not shared with Clinton, Nuland says

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton played no direct role in shaping the Obama administration's infamous "talking points" on the Benghazi attacks, the State Department's former head of communications told lawmakers Thursday.

July 11, 2013
**FILE** The Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Security specialists say with diplomats residing in more well-guarded parts of cities, intelligence is likely to decline. (Associated Press)

Benghazi response may encourage more jihadist attacks in N. Africa

The U.S. should prepare for future terrorist attacks in North Africa that would be even more difficult to police than last year's assault that left four Americans dead in the Eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, counter-terrorism specialists said Wednesday.

July 10, 2013
Egyptian soldiers stand guard around the Republican Guard building in Cairo. Soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. More than 50 people have been killed in the violence. (Associated Press)

‘Coup’ in Egypt would put U.S. in a delicate dilemma over aid

The White House was careful Monday to avoid calling Egypt's regime change a "coup," underscoring the dilemma President Obama faces as he tries to manage a thorny conflict between the Egyptian military's actions and U.S. law, which bans aid to countries where a coup has taken place.

July 8, 2013
** FILE ** Cuban President Raul Castro (Associated Press)

Private talks hint at change in U.S.-Cuba relationship

The State Department has quietly been holding talks with a small but diverse cadre of Cuban natives in Washington — including democracy activists offering insider views of the communist island's politics — that analysts say could send shock waves through the long-standing debate about what a future U.S. policy toward Cuba should look like.

July 4, 2013
Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest outside the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Egypt was on edge Tuesday following a "last-chance" ultimatum the military issued to Mohammed Morsi, giving the president and the opposition 48 hours to resolve the crisis in the country or have the army step in with its own plan. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

U.S. denies taking sides in Egyptian politics amid Morsi protests

The State Department firmly resisted taking a side in Egypt's ongoing political crisis Tuesday and rejected a new report that Obama administration officials had urged Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to hold shock elections in the Mideast nation.

July 2, 2013

Facing Hill pressure, Obama fills State watchdog post

Under mounting pressure from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, President Obama on Thursday appointed a new inspector general for the State Department — a post that has gone unfilled for more than five years.

June 27, 2013
The State Department headquarters is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

State Department has a dearth of diplomats to award for dissent

The association for foreign service officers has an annual award it gives to U.S. diplomats who have stood up to the powers that be at the State Department — but the organization is struggling to find anyone worthy of the honor.

June 26, 2013