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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

In this July 16, 2018, file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, looks over towards U.S. President Donald Trump, left, as Trump speaks during their joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. Merkel and Putin will meet on Saturday in the German government's guesthouse Meseberg, north of Berlin, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018. The topics will include the civil war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine, and energy questions. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)

Donald Trump wins Republican, NATO support for INF treaty end

With last-ditch diplomatic attempts so far failing to resolve disputes over the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Trump administration is expected to stick to the Feb. 2 deadline for withdrawing if Russia refuses to come into compliance.

January 30, 2019
In this file photo, members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)  **FILE**

Trump military deployment on U.S.-Mexico border blasted

The battles over President Trump's border and immigration policies played out once again in a Capitol Hill hearing room, as Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee sparred over the wisdom and expense of deploying active-duty troops to help fortify the Mexican border

January 29, 2019
In this Oct. 4, 2017, photo, a female U.S. Army recruit practices building clearing tactics with male recruits at Ft. Benning, Ga. The Army’s introduction of women into the infantry has moved steadily but cautiously this year. As home to the previously all-male infantry and armor schools, Fort Benning had to make a number of adjustments, including female dorm rooms, security cameras, monitoring stations. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Service panel weighs requiring women to register for military draft

A select panel exploring the future of military and public service says it remains open to requiring women to register for the draft or abolishing the draft registration process altogether, two options that are included in a broad range of alternatives.

January 24, 2019
Rep. Adam Smith, Washington state Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is shown in this file photo from April 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) ** FILE **

New House Armed Services panel pressed to pass big defense bill

The new Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee pressed members Thursday to commit to passing a massive new spending authorization bill for the Pentagon, saying the panel faces a significant task in defining the military's missions and finding ways to pay for them.

January 24, 2019
In this Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, photo, U.S. Coast Guard Culinary Specialist Jerry Wright, right, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin, second from right, stack boxes of donated cereal at a pop-up food pantry created at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. The pantry was created by local Coast Guard-related advocacy groups to help hundreds of civilian and non-civilian Coast Guard employees to help makes ends meet during the partial federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

Coast Guard blasts government shutdown, paycheck freeze

Coast Guard officials increasingly have been speaking out about the shutdown's impact on the service and on its member families, many of whom are turning to food pantries and local donation drives to get by.

January 21, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., right, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, during the opening session of the 116th Congress. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ** FILE **

House Republicans hit plan to drop terror panel for one probing Donald Trump

House Republicans are up in arms over a plan by the new Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that could abolish the panel's anti-terrorism subcommittee and replace it with one that will focus in part on President Trump's business interests and how they affect U.S. foreign policy.

January 16, 2019
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., speaks with a reporter as he arrives at an event marking 100 days since the death of Jamal Khashoggi on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Mark Warner warns of shutdown impact on security clearances

The three-week government shutdown threatens to undermine the process by which federal employees obtain and maintain sensitive security clearances, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.

January 14, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump give a joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday, July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Democrats weighing whether to subpoena Trump-Putin translator

Lawyers with the House Intelligence and House Foreign Affairs committees are expected to meet Monday to discuss whether to issue a subpoena for testimony from President Trump's interpreter at his summit last year with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

January 14, 2019
A woman walks on the beach Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, next to the border wall topped with razor wire in Tijuana, Mexico. U.S. President Donald Trump walked out of his negotiating meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday  "I said bye-bye," he tweeted as efforts to end the 19-day partial government shutdown fell into deeper disarray over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Some lawmakers balk at tapping Pentagon funds for Trump Mexico wall

Whether or not President Trump will declare a national emergency to fund the proposed border wall is still unclear, an increasing number of lawmakers are expressing their opposition to the president dipping into funds meant for Pentagon construction projects to do it.

January 10, 2019