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Lauren Toms

lmeier@washingtontimes.com

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.

Articles by Lauren Toms

A Saudi woman rides her bicycle, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Saudis officials struggle to keep economic reforms on track after attack

Saudi Arabia economic officials are pushing to stay on track after devastating strikes just two weeks ago rocked the country's oil industry, as the kingdom pushes ahead with new strategies to attract tourists, diversify the economy and restore and expand production of its primary export, oil, aiming to grow as a global power over the next decade.

September 30, 2019
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens during an event hosted by the Department of State's Energy Resources Governance Initiative in New York, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

State Department cracks down on Iranian official visits

The Trump administration on Thursday began restricting senior Iranian government officials and their family members from entering the U.S. after months of escalating tension between the two countries.

September 26, 2019
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., heads to a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, March 4, 2019, on the global Magnitsky Act investigation related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Bob Menendez Ukraine investigation blocked by Senate Republicans

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a move by a key foreign policy Democrat to launch an investigation into the Trump administration's move to freeze nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine and force the State Department to turn over documents related to the controversy regarding Ukraine.

September 25, 2019
Assad

Report warns against U.S. leaving Syria prematurely

A new congressionally mandated report has offered a harsh critique of the U.S. government's policy on Syria, warning that the terror threat from the region remains real and the U.S. risks losing the gains of recent years.

September 24, 2019
In this July 21, 2019, photo, a speedboat of Iran's Revolutionary Guard moves around a British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which was seized on Friday by the Guard, in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The assault on the beating heart of Saudi Arabia’s vast oil empire follows a new and dangerous pattern that’s emerged across the Persian Gulf this summer of precise attacks that leave few obvious clues of who launched them. (Hasan Shirvani/Mizan News Agency via AP) **FILE**

Iranians claim seized British tanker now free to sail

The British oil tanker Stena Impero is "free to leave" more two months after Iranian forces seized the ship, Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom Hamid Baeidinejad said in a statement Monday.

September 23, 2019
President Donald Trump talks with reporters after touring a section of the southern border wall, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Otay Mesa, Calif. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Whistleblower complaint involves Donald Trump, foreign leader

A top House Democrat accused the administration Thursday of stonewalling a probe into a national security whistleblower's complaint against President Trump by raising executive privilege, but Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also insisted on the right to privilege in such cases.

September 19, 2019
Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad smiles at the U.S. Institute of Peace, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Eliot Engel withdraws subpoena of Zalmay Khalilzad

The U.S.' special envoy to talks with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents will not appear publicly before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday, as planned, but will instead provide a classified briefing to panel members.

September 18, 2019
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, hands out his business card following a news conference on human rights in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Hong Kong democracy activists press U.S. for ban on sales to security forces

Pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong traveled to Capitol Hill this week with an impassioned plea to lawmakers to block U.S. sales of police equipment to the city's police forces, saying the ban will help curb human rights abuses as the Chinese government seeks to crack down on a summer of protests in the semi-autonomous city.

September 18, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressees his supporters at party headquarters after elections in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Netanyahu to skip UN General Assembly gathering after cliffhanger vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his scheduled trip to the U.N. General Assembly gathering next week in New York after his party failed to secure a majority in this week's presidential election, putting his own political future in doubt.

September 18, 2019