Major Jessica Taylor, USAFR, is a nonresident fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Taylor has served in the US Department of Defense in both military and civil service capacities for nearly twenty years. She most recently served in South Korea from 2019 to 2021 as an international relations strategist where she provided geopolitical analysis and advice to the headquarters command staffs of United Nations Command, ROK/US Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea. In addition to experience in East Asia, Taylor has had assignments in South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. She is currently pursuing her PhD in international relations with a focus on the Indo-Pacific as a part of the Security Studies program at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. In addition, Taylor is a logistics readiness officer in the US Air Force Reserve and is a part of the US National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction’s Program for Emerging Leaders.  

Taylor holds a BA in biology from Baylor University and a MS in foreign service from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. At Princeton, Taylor will continue her research on geopolitical risk with a specific focus on US security alliances and partnerships in Northeast Asia. To date she has published works including “Obstacles to US-South Korea Alliance Regional Contingency Planning and Considerations for US Policy” and “How the United States can build a chip alliance Northeast Asia without decoupling.” In her spare time she is also an active member in the National Association for Black Engagement in Asia and Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation.