Miles Taylor is an American government official who served in the administrations of George W. Bush and Donald Trump. In the administration of the latter, he was an appointee who served in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2017 to 2019, including as chief of staff of the DHS. He was first recruited into the department by former DHS Secretary and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, serving as his senior advisor.
In 2018, Taylor wrote an op-ed in The New York Times under the pen-name "Anonymous" that was entitled, "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration", which drew widespread attention for its criticism of Trump. Several months after quitting the administration, again under the pen name "Anonymous," he published a book in November 2019 entitled, A Warning. In October 2020, he revealed that he was "Anonymous" while campaigning against Trump's reelection. He was the first former Trump administration official to endorse Joe Biden and launched a group of ex-officials to oppose Trump's re-election. CNN's Jake Tapper referred to the dissenters as the largest-ever group of "former top U.S. government officials warning about the president for whom they once worked."
Taylor is a regular commentator in the news media on national security and public policy, a best-selling author, university lecturer, and founder of several civic groups.
Early life and education
Taylor grew up in La Porte, Indiana, where he was an Indiana state debate champion, and one of the valedictorians of his class at La Porte High School in 2006. While in high school, he served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor of arts degree in international security studies from Indiana University Bloomington, which he attended as a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Herman B. Wells Scholar. As a senior, he received IU's inaugural Presidential Student Internship and was a recipient of the Elvis J. Stahr Award awarded to the university's top few graduating seniors.
Taylor received an MPhil in International Relations from New College, Oxford, which he attended as a 2012 Marshall Scholar.
Career
Taylor's decision to have a career in government was largely motivated by the September 11 attacks in 2001. He later said that he "wanted to focus my entire professional life on making sure a day like that wouldn't happen again, and dedicating my career to, what I thought, was the mission of this country, and that's the advancement of human freedom."
In 2007, while in college, Taylor interned in the office of the Secretary of Defense and the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. In 2008, he worked as the briefing book coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security for Secretary Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider. In 2009, he served as a regional policy intern for the Department of Defense.
Taylor was a political appointee in the administration of George W. Bush. He was a staffer for the House Appropriations Committee and then the Committee on Homeland Security, where he served on Chairman Michael McCaul's staff. Taylor was McCaul's chief speechwriter and national security advisor on counterterrorism and foreign policy. He also served as the majority staff lead for the congressional Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel. In 2015, he was named a Penn Kemble Fellow by the National Endowment for Democracy.
Department of Homeland Security
Taylor joined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in February 2017, when John Kelly, later White House Chief of Staff, was Secretary of Homeland Security. Taylor served as DHS deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to Kelly. He later served as chief of staff of DHS toward the end of the tenure of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and the beginning of Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan. Taylor described a version of the Trump administration's travel restrictions as "tough" but "tailored". He reportedly clashed with other officials to try to limit the number of countries affected by it. He was also involved in debates regarding Trump administration immigration policies. He later described the Trump administration family separation policy as a "sickening display of bad judgment". Taylor cited the "train wreck" policy as one of his reasons for quitting the Trump Administration in protest, calling it "one of the most disheartening and disgusting things I've ever experienced in public service."