Lauren Toms is a national security reporter for The Washington Times, covering national security committees on Capitol Hill, foreign affairs, defense, and diplomacy. She began covering politics at CNN during the 2016 presidential election, working closely with the national security and justice teams, and later joined Axios as an editor specializing in international and military coverage. Lauren holds a master's degree in U.S. law from Washington University in St. Louis school of law, and a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communications from the George Washington University school of media and public affairs. She can be reached at ltoms@washingtontimes.com.
At least 5,000 Americans who are in need of evacuation back to the U.S. are reportedly stranded in Peru after the country closed its borders and halted commercial flights in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
The State Department said it was accelerating efforts to bring home thousands of Americans stranded abroad by the coronavirus with no easy way to get home.
The District recorded its second coronavirus death this weekend, while the Pentagon reported that a contractor in Northern Virginia has become the Defense Department's first COVID-19 fatality.
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea on Saturday, according to the South Korean military, in a move that highlights the country's continuing military expansion amid a global health pandemic.
Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is calling on President Trump to take "extraordinary measures" to help American citizens abroad who are struggling to find flights back to the U.S. amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S. is doing "everything" it can to provide assistance to manage the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, which has reported one of the highest contraction and death rates from COVID-19 outside of mainland China and Italy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said his department is working with the Pentagon to bring Americans abroad back to the U.S. amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The State Department has issued its highest level travel advisory warning Americans against international travel to any country as the world races to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
An independent democracy advocacy organization is warning that authoritarian regimes are using the global coronavirus outbreak to suppress freedoms of speech and restrict fundamental rights outside of the scope of public health needs.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday condemned China's recent move to expel 13 American journalists in response to a new visa limit imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese state-owned media in the U.S.
Even though analysts say the numbers are understated, Iran has reported one of the highest contraction and death rates from COVID-19 outside of mainland China and Italy.
A group of Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee raised "serious concerns" Wednesday about Americans abroad who are struggling to return to the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday slammed the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the president has sought to "downplay" the significance of the spread.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is calling on the Trump administration to "admit" that its ongoing pressure campaign against Iran is not working.
The number of attacks being carried out across Afghanistan by the Taliban are "still too high" in the wake of a newly signed peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, the head of U.S. military operations in the Middle East said Friday.
The Pentagon is confident that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes that were carried out Thursday evening in Iraq successfully destroyed five weapons facilities used by an Iranian-backed military group that launched a deadly rocket attack on coalition forces days earlier.
U.S.-led coalition airstrikes are currently underway in Iraq against Iranian-backed militia responsible for the deaths of two American servicemembers and one British soldier in a rocket attack just one day prior.
The Pentagon says a rocket attack that killed two U.S. service members and a British soldier in Iraq Wednesday was "most likely" carried out by Iranian-backed militants.