John Hayward

National Security Deputy Editor

John Hayward

Follow John Hayward

I'm a conservative because there is so much about the American tradition that is worth conserving. I worry that people aren't as frightened of authoritarians and totalitarians as they should be. Freedom and capitalism are inseparable, because without capitalism, freedom just means shouting your opinion and hoping somebody important is listening.

National security, technology, global political and economic strategy

Associate in Arts, Edison Community College, 1986

Hayward has been a writer for Breitbart News Network since 2013. Prior to that, he worked for two decades in computers and business consulting before becoming an amateur blogger under the pseudonym "Doctor Zero" for Hot Air. As he developed a large following, he also received criticism for being an anonymous voice, so he decided to reveal his full name and go public. Shortly thereafter, he began doing radio interviews across the country for his writing and was contacted by Human Events in Washington, D.C. to become a full-time professional columnist.

Management at Breitbart News noticed his work and invited him to join Breitbart.com. Hayward jumped at the opportunity to "join a platform with so much reach, to be a part of something so huge."

Hayward's work has been cited by radio and television outlets from Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin to Fox News. His essays have been incorporated into several high school and college textbooks, and he gives occasional lectures on media analysis and writing online. He frequently guest-hosts Breitbart News Tonight on SiriusXM channel 125, the Patriot Channel.

Articles by John Hayward

State Department: China’s Uyghur Genocide Continued Throughout 2022

The U.S. State Department released its 2022 human rights report for China on Monday, enraging the Chinese Communist government by finding that “genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”

Demonstrators with chains on their hands and feet hold a protest as part of the worldwide "Stop Genocide Now" campaign to draw attention to China's policies towards the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in Fatih, Istanbul, Turkiye on July 31, 2022. East Turkestan New Generation Movement and International Union of East …

Xi and Putin Attack U.S. ‘Biolabs,’ No Mention of Wuhan

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his Russian junior partner Vladimir Putin emerged from meetings in Moscow on Tuesday to issue various declarations and joint statements. One of them expressed “serious concern” about the “military biological activities” of the United States and demanded “clarifications” from the U.S. government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. (Photo by Alexey MAISHEV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by ALEXEY MAISHEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

China Brags About Slowly Taking over Iraq 20 Years After U.S. Invasion

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday boasted that Chinese companies are taking a leading role in the reconstruction of Iraq, making money and spreading Beijing’s influence in a country the United States spent blood and treasure to liberate from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein two decades ago.

FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2004 file photo, fires flare off the gas from crude oil at Iraq's oldest oil processing plant in the northern Iraqi town of Baba Gurgur, outside of Kirkuk, Iraq's Oil Ministry says Iraq has resumed exports from its oil fields around Kirkuk, one year …

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia flew two nuclear-capable strategic bombers over the Sea of Japan on Tuesday in an apparent gesture of disapproval.

(COMBO) This combination of file pictures created on March 21, 2023 shows Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) speaking during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo on March 17, 2023, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking during a press conference following a round-table meeting as part of …

Kim Jong-un Oversees Simulated Nuclear Attack on U.S. and South Korea

North Korean state media on Monday said dictator Kim Jong-un personally oversaw drills on Saturday and Sunday that simulated his regime’s “war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability,” meaning a nuclear attack on the United States and South Korea. The drill included the troubling launch of solid-fueled ballistic missile from a hidden underground silo.

People watch a television news screen showing a picture of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un witnessing the recent test-firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), at a railway station in Seoul on March 17, 2023. - North Korea said the projectile it test-fired on March 16 was an …

Kremlin: China’s Xi to Meet with Putin Next Week

The Kremlin confirmed on Friday that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s long-rumored visit to Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir Putin will take place next week, beginning with a one-on-one meeting and “informal dinner” on Monday. 

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, center left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, enter a hall for talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, June 5, 2019. Amid the soaring tensions over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin is heading to Beijing on a trip intended to help strengthen Russia's …

Bashar Assad Tells Moscow He Wants More Russian Bases in Syria

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad during a visit to Moscow this week wholeheartedly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, offering his government’s official recognition of the phony “independent republics” Russia carved out of eastern Ukraine, and said he would like more Russian forces stationed permanently in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to Syrian President Bashar Assad during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Vladimir Gerdo, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Steven Seagal Debuts ‘International Movement of Russophiles’

Former action movie star Steven Seagal, an ardent supporter of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine, on Tuesday launched an “international movement of Russophiles” with support from the Russian Foreign Ministry. 

Steven Seagal, the American action-movie actor who also holds Russian citizenship gestures during a ceremony to open the Founding Congress of the International Russophile Movement at the Pushkin State Museum in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his greetings to the participants and guests of …

Argentina Wants to Buy Chinese Fighter Jets

Argentina’s embassy to China said on Tuesday that President Alberto Fernandez is considering the purchase of JF-17 “Thunder” fighter jets from China — three months after a deal for JF-17s fell apart and Fernandez said his government would not buy any military aircraft in the near future.

Photo taken on Nov. 9, 2022 shows the JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, a two-seater combat trainer, at the Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

India Remains World’s Top Importer of Arms

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published data on global arms transfers on Monday that found India remains the world’s largest importer of weapons, reaching a five-year high of 11% of all global imports. 

Security personnel stand guard in front of closed shops in Srinagar on August 23, 2019. - An Indian soldier was killed by Pakistani forces on the Kashmir border, the military said on August 23, as a tense lockdown in the region of seven million residents continued for the 19th day. …

China Censors Funeral for SARS Whistleblower Jiang Yanyong

Jiang Yanyong, a former Chinese military doctor who blew the whistle on his government’s cover-up of the 2003 SARS epidemic, died from pneumonia on Saturday at the age of 91. The regime in Beijing intimidated his family into taking a “low-key approach” to his passing because it does not want parallels drawn between Jiang and Covid-19 whistleblowers like Dr. Li Wenliang, who was persecuted by the State for trying to sound an early warning about the pandemic that would ravage the world.

Military surgeon Jiang Yanyong, the doctor spoke out the truth of SARS 10 years ago, talks at a forum on the 10th anniversary of SARS held in Beijing. 28FEB13 == Photo by Simon Song == (Photo by Simon Song/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

SVB Collapse Threatens Africa’s Fragile Tech Sector

The implosion of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is sending shockwaves around the world, reaching all the way to Africa, where fragile tech startups are worried that more banks will fail, destroying their supply of much-needed venture capital.

A vendor talks on a smartphone inside a market on Broad Street in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Africa's most populous nation heads to the polls on Saturday, and the next president will inherit an economy and country on its knees. Photographer: Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Asian Stock Markets Tumble in Wake of SVB Collapse

The aftershocks of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) multibillion-dollar collapse reached Asia on Tuesday, as stock indexes in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong tumbled by more than two percent.

A currency trader watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's announcement of how sharply it will raise interest rates to cool U.S. inflation. (AP …

India’s SVC Bank Reassures Depositors It Has Nothing to Do with Collapsing SVB Bank

India’s small SVC Co-Operative Bank spent the weekend scrambling to reassure depositors it has no connections whatsoever to the imploding Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) of California. In addition to some confusion over their similar names, SVC executives said “social media rumors” have been spreading that linked the two banks together and claimed SVC is also trembling on the verge of collapse.

People line up outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

China Takes Victory Lap for Restored Relations Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

China’s state-run Global Times on Friday hailed the China-brokered resumption of diplomatic relationships between Saudi Arabia and Iran as a major milestone in Beijing’s ascension as a global power, and the corresponding sunset of American influence under President Joe Biden.

Iran's top security official Ali Shamkhani (R), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) and Musaid Al Aiban, the Saudi Arabia's national security adviser pose for a photo after Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume bilateral diplomatic ties after several days of deliberations between top security officials of the …

Chinese Propagandists Blame U.S. for Nord Stream Explosions

Chinese state media went absolutely berserk on Wednesday over a U.S. intelligence review that suggested a pro-Ukrainian group damaged the Nord Stream pipelines last year, howling that American officials concocted the story to conceal their clear guilt for blowing up the pipelines.

nord stream explosion