Miles Taylor

Miles Taylor is a public policy leader, bestselling author, and was Executive Director of the Renew America Movement, a pro-democracy organization based in Washington, DC. Previously, Miles was Google’s U.S. Lead for Advanced Technology and Security Strategy, responsible for promoting next-generation cyber defense, digital security, and innovation in areas such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, as well as the company’s Head of National Security Policy Engagement.

Prior to Google, Taylor worked as the former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he oversaw day-to-day operations of the government’s third largest department, including nearly 250,000 employees and a $60 billion annual budget. He was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and managed engagement with the White House, federal agencies, foreign governments, and industry partners. Taylor also served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to Secretary John Kelly, advancing efforts to protect the United States against nation-state adversaries, criminal plots, terrorists, and cyber threats.

In 2018, Taylor published an anonymous opinion piece in The New York Times, blowing the whistle on presidential misconduct. As Anonymous, he later released the book A Warning, a first-hand account of the instability inside President Trump’s White House and administration, which topped The New York Times best-seller list. After resigning, Taylor publicly endorsed Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and helped recruit an unprecedented number of former administration officials to oppose the reelection of a president they once served. He revealed himself to be Anonymous in October 2020.

Taylor was previously a top national security aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the staff of House Homeland Security Committee, House Appropriations Committee, and earlier in his career in the Office of the Speaker of the House. Taylor also worked in the George W. Bush administration in the White House and at the Department of Homeland Security. His writings on politics and national security have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, and more.

Taylor is co-founder of the Washington Leadership Academy, a four-year high school in Washington, D.C. named one of America’s top 10 “Super Schools” by the XQ Project. He is also a documentary filmmaker, and in 2017 he produced Democracy’s Messengers, a film about the work of young Americans serving on Capitol Hill, featuring narration from the late ABC News journalist Cokie Roberts.

He is a former CNN contributor; recent senior fellow at the R Street Institute; and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Taylor received his M.Phil. in International Relations from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, and his BA from Indiana University as a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Herman B. Wells Scholar. A proud Hoosier, he is a graduate of La Porte High School in La Porte, Indiana, as well as the Congressional Page School in Washington, D.C.