National Security News

The Daily Signal provides reports on national and homeland security issues, including military readiness, intelligence operations, border protection, and global conflicts. Featuring news, analysis, and commentary, this section explores how security policy decisions affect America’s national defense and freedom.
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  • opinion

    Obama’s National Security Strategy Is Weak and Underwhelming
    President Obama’s new national security strategy will do little to reassure America’s allies or intimidate America’s enemies. Today, the White House unveiled a document poorly suited to the challenges faced by the world’s superpower, which are mounting in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. At a time when American global leadership is increasingly being…
    Nile Gardiner
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  • news

    County Sheriffs Push Back Against Homeland Security’s ‘Not-So Veiled Threat’
    Hundreds of miles from the nation’s capital, local sheriffs are feeling reverberations from Congress’ fight over Department of Homeland Security funding. This week, Secretary Jeh Johnson delivered what one sheriff views as a “not-so veiled threat” on what could happen if an agreement isn’t reached. Johnson’s statement, released Tuesday, explains why Congress needs to pass…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Congressional Oversight of the DHS: Time for a Change
    What happens when a federal agency must answer to over 100 different congressional committees and subcommittees? Duplication, contradiction, inefficiency—and more duplication. That has been the fate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since its creation in 2002 following 9/11. Congress created the DHS from 22 different agencies or parts of agencies that each had…
    Jennifer Guthrie
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  • opinion

    What’s Really Happening: Democrats Are Blocking Homeland Security Funding
    The headline in one Washington newspaper read: “Senate Dems block legislation reversing immigration actions.” That’s one way to see it. A more accurate headline would have been: “Senate Democrats block debate over legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security.” The latter is exactly what all 44 Senate Democrats (and two Independents) did Tuesday and again…
    Genevieve Wood
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  • news

    Why Won’t Obama Use the Words ‘Islamic Extremism’? Watch What This Democrat Says
    In a recent interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was asked why President Obama avoids the phrase “Islamic extremism.” Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, said, “If you are at war, which we are, you have to know who your enemy is in order to defeat them.” She criticized Secretary of…
    Thaleigha Rampersad
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  • news

    Children of Fallen Veterans Get the Surprise of Their Life From NFL’s MVP
    It is a surprise they will never forget. Aaron Rodgers surprises fallen veterans' children in latest #ItsAaron video http://t.co/KrvfZDj3RO pic.twitter.com/4iiZVqiP9L — Green Bay Press-Gazette (@gbpressgazette) January 28, 2015 Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, this season’s NFL most valuable player, created the #ItsAaron video campaign to shine a light on organizations and people who are…
    Thaleigha Rampersad
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  • news

    ‘Clock Is Ticking’: Homeland Security Chief Warns Congress to Fund His Agency
    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urged Congress today to stop using his agency’s budget as “political football,” warning that without more funding soon, it would make the job of securing the border more difficult. "The clock to Feb. 27 is ticking," he said in a speech at the Wilson Center in Washington, referring…
    Josh Siegel
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  • opinion

    Senate Hearing: Four Surface Transportation Policies Worth Knowing About
    The latest bailout of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) expires at the end of May, so the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee called a hearing to discuss the reauthorization of the federal highway and transit programs funded through the trust fund. Conspicuously absent from the discussion were calls to eliminate wasteful spending in reliable…
    Emily Goff
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  • opinion

    Information Sharing a Must for Cybersecurity
    Last week, the White House maintained that it would veto the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a bill proposing cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and the U.S. government, if it reached the President. While the bill was introduced by Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Dutch Ruppersberger (D–MD) and has bipartisan…
    Jennifer Guthrie
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  • opinion

    Gowdy Accuses State Department, CIA of Not Cooperating With Benghazi Investigation
    More acrimony emerged between Democrats and Republicans during yesterday’s third public hearing of the House Select Committee on Benghazi than had been seen at any point since the committee was established last summer. Earlier hearings had been on topics suggested by Democrats on the committee—embassy security and other improvements—that were relatively uncontroversial. But the focus…
    Helle Dale
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  • opinion

    DHS’s Focus on Amnesty a Greater Threat to Security than Budget Impasse
    Recently, a variety of policymakers and pundits have warned that failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of the President’s executive action on immigration would have a negative impact on U.S. security. Congress has been warned repeatedly not to treat our security as a “political volleyball.” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, invoking the…
    David Inserra
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  • news

    Higher Security Costs at Super Bowl XLIX will Leave Glendale in Debt, Says Mayor
    The mayor of Glendale, Ariz., is not optimistic about his city’s financial prospects after hosting Super Bowl XLIX. “I totally believe we will lose money on this,” Mayor Jerry Weiers told ESPN. Weiers said that Glendale was left in debt after hosting Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2008. According to ESPN,…
    Kate Scanlon
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  • news

    Poll: Health Care Costs Top List of Americans’ Biggest Financial Concerns
    In a new Gallup poll, Americans called “health care costs” and “lack of money/low wages” the “most important financial problems” facing their families. Fourteen percent of Americans said that health care costs or low wages were their biggest concern. Gallup notes that this is the first time that health care costs have “returned to the…
    Kate Scanlon
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  • news

    How You Can Be Legally Guilty of Racial Discrimination When You Didn’t Intend to Discriminate
    Can you be liable for racial discrimination even if you lacked the intent to discriminate? The Obama administration would say “yes,” under its favorite dubious legal theory, known as “disparate impact.” Today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., a challenge to…
    Hans von Spakovsky | Elizabeth Slattery
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  • opinion

    Questions for Secretary of Defense Nominee Ash Carter
    When it was announced on December 5, 2014, that former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was going to replace Chuck Hagel as President Obama’s fourth Secretary of Defense (SecDef), America immediately had many questions. Chief among them: “What does this mean for U.S. defense policy?” Carter is sure to be appointed, having broad bipartisan…
    Matthew Rolfes
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  • opinion

    Where You Can Learn About the (True) State of the Union on National Security
    “Mama” may well be the first word out of a newborn politician’s mouth. But the first full sentence is likely to be “It is time to put politics aside.” What comes after that is, inevitably, pure politics. The State of the Union address has long since ceased being about the state of the union. The…
    James Carafano
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  • opinion

    We Need to Debate What’s Right, Wrong with American Military Power
    Post-mortems on “How We Lost Iraq and Afghanistan” seem to be proliferating—even though there’s a lot of “mors” still happening in those battlegrounds. Of course, criticizing the conduct of war, even as bullets fly, is nothing new. Even “the Good War” had its share of cranky complaints about how the war was being won. One…
    James Carafano
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  • opinion

    Should a Judicial Candidate Be Able to Request Campaign Contributions?
    On Tuesday, Jan. 20, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in its first campaign finance case since it threw out the aggregate limit on campaign contributions to federal candidates last year in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. But this latest case involves the rules pertaining to state elections in Florida, not federal elections,…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • news

    Critics Accuse Obama Administration of Jeopardizing US Security in Wake of Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Transfer
    Despite significant opposition from a group of Republican senators, the Department of Defense announced yesterday that five detainees would be transferred from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba to Oman and Estonia. “The detainees that remain at Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, and their continued release will only further damage our national…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • news

    Audit: Va. Department of Transportation Squandered Millions on Lousy Contractor
    RICHMOND, Va. — A confidential audit found that the Virginia Department of Transportation wasted millions of tax dollars by failing to fine a nonperforming contractor. The Office of the State Inspector General concluded “at least $3 million” was “wasted” by VDOT management for not holding Serco Inc. accountable for allegedly incomplete or undone work. Serco…
    Kenric Ward
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