Francis X. Taylor was educated at the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a B.A. in government and international studies in 1970. Taylor was involved in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps during university and in upon graduation, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He became a trainee agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and then attended the U.S. Air Force Special Investigations School in Washington, D.C. From 1970 to 1972, he was a counterintelligence officer at the Middle East, Africa and South Asia Division of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. From 1972 to 1974, he attended the Air Force Institute of Technology at Notre Dame, receiving an Master of Arts in government and international studies in 1974.