Sean D. Naylor is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. Naylor is the National Security Correspondent for Yahoo News. He previously covered intelligence and counterterrorism for ''Foreign Policy'' and spent over 20 years at ''Army Times'', with stints as an embedded reporter with troops in Somalia, Haiti, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Naylor has freelanced for ''The New York Times'' and ''Newsweek'' and is the author of two books, ''Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda'' and ''Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command''.

Early life

Born in 1966 in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada to British parents, a geologist and a journalist, Naylor earned a master's degree in international relations in 1990 from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. From the age of 18 months until the eve of his ninth birthday, he lived in Surrey, England. He then moved to Dublin, Ireland, and became a music journalist at age 16.

Writing career

After graduating from Boston University, where he studied journalism on a scholarship, he joined ''Army Times''. Naylor's beats included U.S. Army training, readiness and the service's senior leadership. He has covered the military in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. In 1995, Naylor co-wrote his first book, ''Clash of Chariots: The Great Tank Battles''. In January 2002, the

101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

took a couple dozen journalists, including Naylor, into

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

with Task Force Rakkasan. Naylor spent almost four months covering the War in Afghanistan, including several days in the

Shah-i-Kot Valley The Shah-i-Kot Valley (also Shahi-Kot, Shah-e-Kot and other variant spellings) is a valley in Afghanistan's Paktia province, southeast of the town of Zormat. The terrain in and around the valley is notoriously rugged, located at a mean altitude o ...

at the start of Operation Anaconda. He returned to the valley at the end of the operation with

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

troops. He was one of eight journalists allowed to accompany the troops into battle during Operation Anaconda, and spent the following three years interviewing almost 200 participants and accessed secret documents that explained the full role of the

Advanced Force Operations The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is a joint component command of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and is charged with studying special operations requirements and techniques to ensure interoperability and equip ...

in Operation Anaconda. With this information, Naylor wrote his second book, ''Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda'', published in 2005. In 2015, his book ''Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command'' was published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

Bibliography

* Donnelly, Thomas, Sean Naylor, and

Walter J. Boyne Walter J. Boyne (February 2, 1929 – January 9, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, Command Pilot, combat veteran, aviation historian, and author of more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles. He was a director of the National ...

. ''Clash of Chariots: The Great Tank Battles''. New York: Berkley Books, 1996. . . * Naylor, Sean. ''Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda''. New York:

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berk ...

, 2005. . . *

References

External links

Naylor discusses ''Not a Good Day to Die''
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

Naylor moderates a panel discussion with Six Colby Award Winners
at the

Naylor participates in a panel discussion, ''Facing the Future:Writing on War in the 21st Century''
at the

*
"Not a Good Day to Die" and Operation Anaconda information
* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Canadian people of British descent Journalists from Alberta People from Calgary Canadian war correspondents War correspondents of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) {{Canada-journalist-stub