Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
Haider al-Abadi, Iraq’s prime minister complains of lack of help in terror fight
Iraq's prime minister complained Monday that the international community has left his nation largely in the lurch against the extremist Islamic State movement, even as U.S. and European officials scrambled to revamp their strategy for countering Mideast-based jihadis following this month's Paris terrorist attacks. Published January 21, 2015
Yemen unrest undermines U.S. operations against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Yemen is veering closer toward the abyss of failed statehood amid violence that has surged just as European, American and Arab counterterrorism officials refocus their attention on the strategically positioned Persian Gulf nation — where at least one of the gunmen responsible for this month's Paris terrorist attacks received training. Published January 20, 2015
Boko Haram embraces Islamic State model for extremist jihad
With the world's attention focused on Paris, analysts and intelligence officials are picking up an equally disturbing development on the global jihadi landscape: the growing connection between the Middle East-based Islamic State and the shadowy Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram. Published January 14, 2015
Gen. Vincent R. Stewart picked by Obama administration to head DIA
The Obama administration announced Tuesday the appointment of Marine Corps Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, who presently serves in a key cybersecurity position of the U.S. military, to become the next director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Published January 13, 2015
Charlie Hebdo attack: France fears more terrorists at large
French authorities said Monday that as many as six members of a terrorist sleeper cell involved in last week's attack on a satirical magazine in Paris may still be at large, as U.S. officials investigated the actual role played by al Qaeda's main affiliate in the Middle East. Published January 12, 2015
Cyprus: Cypriot union threatened by dispute over oil and gas rights
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: A top official from the Turkish north of Cyprus says the Greek Cypriot government has jeopardized a delicate peace process between the two long-divided sides by pursuing "hegemony" over oil and gas exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Published January 11, 2015
Obama tabs David Cohen as CIA deputy director
A top Treasury Department official seen as a key architect of the Obama administration's use of sanctions against Iran and several terrorist organizations including the Islamic State has been tapped by the president to serve as deputy director of the CIA. Published January 9, 2015
Paris newspaper attack underscores terrorist shift to ‘soft targets’
Where the al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden's leadership flew an airplane into the Pentagon in a meticulously prepared operation, the tip of today's global jihadi spear is increasingly pointed at exploiting such "soft targets" as shopping malls, sporting events, tourist attractions and, in the case of this week's horror in Paris, the office of a satirical news magazine. Published January 8, 2015
Paris newspaper shooting exposes rift in Muslim-Europe relationships
The grisly Islamist terrorist assault that left 12 people dead at a French satirical magazine Wednesday came against a backdrop of mounting xenophobia and tension boiling over Western Europe, where traditionally secular societies are struggling to absorb surging Muslim immigrant populations that analysts say will only continue to grow in the years ahead. Published January 7, 2015
North Korea’s growing hacker army, stout cyberdefenses hinder U.S. response to Sony breach
U.S. intelligence agencies find themselves sorely limited in how to respond to North Korean hacking operations because of the authoritarian nation's uniquely isolated position in the world, amid reports that Pyongyang is now employing a hacker army of as many as 6,000 cyberwarriors. Published January 6, 2015
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
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
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
Indonesia tsunami 10th anniversary: Disaster, recovery brought iffy peace to Banda Aceh
Lina Herlina was 19 years old when the massive coffee-colored wall of water came grinding up from the sea to wipe scores of houses and buildings clean off their foundations and kill more than half of this city's population in a matter of minutes. Published December 25, 2014
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
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
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
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 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
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