After graduation in 1975, Colonel Debra (Oliver) Taylor attended MiraCosta College and California State Long Beach, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Criminal Justice. She then received two Masters Degrees in Business Management and National Security Strategy.

While pursuing her first Masters Degree she cross-enrolled in UCLA’s ROTC cadet program and attended the U.S. Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia and in 1980 received her paratrooper wings. That same year, she was recognized as a “Distinguished Military Graduate” and commissioned into the Regular U.S. Army as a Military Intelligence Officer.

Colonel Taylor served 26 years as an Intelligence Officer in various assignments in the United States and abroad. During her years defending the United States she was the Deputy Operations Officer in Berlin, Germany when the “wall came down”, served as Battalion Commander in Korea, was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and served stateside in the Pentagon as Senior Intelligence Officer during recovery and response operations.

Debbie also became the Managing Editor of the National Defense University Press, which published the Joint Force Quarterly for the Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. Debra served on the Army Staff in the Pentagon for a year and graduated from the National War College in Washington, D.C. in 2001.

Her titles included during her distinguished military career: Senior Military Fellow, National Defense University Deputy Director for Intelligence & Chief Intelligence Support Division Joint Staff Pentagon Chief, Information Management/Information Technology Division Army Staff Pentagon Commander United States Army Garrison, Camp Casey Enclave Republic of Korea Senior Watch Officer Chief Korea Division, Chief Northeast Asia Department, Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Command. After retiring from the military, she worked as a defense consultant/independent contractor for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In 1980, Debra married an Army Ranger and fellow career Intelligence Officer. They have two grown children, a daughter who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, currently serving in Korea as an Army Captain and a son who graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design.