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

    Biden Administration’s Social Cost of Carbon and ‘Intergenerational Equity’ Policies Inefficient, Unfair

    Immediately after his inauguration, President Joe Biden issued an executive order reviving the social cost of carbon and the interagency working group tasked with making the social cost of carbon estimates. One of the primary policy tools for imposing climate regulations on the energy sector, the social cost of carbon supposedly measures the cost of…
    David Kreutzer
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    • Opinion

    Tucker Carlson Spars With Arkansas Governor on ‘Chemical Castration’ of Minors

    Arkansas just did something historic: It’s become the first state in the nation to enact the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act. This much-maligned bill does three things: It protects minors from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and/or masculinization or feminization surgery (all of which have permanent, life-long effects) until they are adults and can make…
    Quena González
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    • Opinion

    ‘Goal Is to Protect Children,’ Lead Sponsor of Arkansas’ Transgender Bill Says

    Arkansas has just become the first state in the country to pass legislation protecting minors from being prescribed puberty blockers or gender-hormone treatments, or from receiving gender-change surgery. Arkansas state Rep. Robin Lundstrum, the lead sponsor for the bill, joins the “Problematic Women” podcast to explain why the passage of the legislation is a victory…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    Arkansas Law Lets Kids Be Kids

    American law, including state law in Arkansas, has a long history of protecting children from themselves and others. The nation’s adults recognize that children are typically incapable of assessing long-term consequences of their actions, weighing risks and benefits, having fully formed identities and understanding of themselves, or even processing information needed to make critical decisions….
    Autumn Leva
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    • News

    He Lived Under Socialism in Venezuela. That’s Why He’ll Never Support It.

    Andres Guilarte is a university student who lived in Venezuela under a democratically elected socialist regime. Guilarte says food shortages were a daily occurrence. Venezuelans also endure massive blackouts, political persecution, and a lack of access to health care due to the socialist government. Guilarte joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share his experiences of…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Promotes Radical Resources to Kill ‘Extremism in Ranks’

    The Defense Department is promoting reading resources on opposing “systemic racism” that include radical authors as part of a program to combat extremism within the ranks of the military.   In a virtual meeting for “all hands” last month, the agenda—obtained by The Daily Signal—counted the scandal-plagued Southern Poverty Law Center as a credible resource alongside…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Green Bay Official Warned Boss She Wouldn’t Break Law in Election

    MADISON, Wis.—Kris Teske was forced to put up with a lot of outside meddling in the weeks and months leading up to November’s presidential election. But as an election official, the frustrated city clerk of Green Bay, Wisconsin, made it clear to her superior that she would not break the law, according to new emails…
    M.D. Kittle
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    • Opinion

    Baltimore’s Rogue Prosecutor Mosby Facing 3 Probes of Official Duties, Travel, Gifts

    It’s been a lousy spring for Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore’s rogue prosecutor. First, the IRS placed a tax lien for $45,000 on her house for three years of unpaid taxes.  Second, Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General conducted a wide-ranging investigation into her activist-sponsored travel, accounting irregularities, and unorthodox gift-acceptance practices, and issued a written report…
    Cully Stimson
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    • Opinion

    1 in 3 Americans Are Watching Less Sports. Blame ‘Social Justice’ Preaching.

    When former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem in 2016, something snapped in the cultural landscape. The act proved to be a flash point, sharply dividing Americans along two distinct battle lines. One side defended Kaepernick as a hero, bravely standing against a racist system oppressing minorities. The other viewed the act as a form of disrespect toward the country…
    Douglas Blair
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    • Opinion

    Arkansas Bill Would Bar Doctors From Transgender Drug, Surgical ‘Experimentation’ on Minors

    Just a week after Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed bills protecting women’s sports and medical conscience protections from being forced to bend to progressive gender ideology, he now has the chance to sign yet another pro-science bill that would protect children from harmful surgical and hormonal interventions on their bodies in the name of “gender…
    Jared Eckert
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    • Opinion

    Pentagon Makes Unforced Error in New Policy on Transgender Service Members

    The Pentagon released a new policy Wednesday describing how the military will now conduct gender transitions for service members currently serving. The policy describes the medical, logistical, and administrative processes involved to switch gender identities. It follows quickly on the heels of President Joe Biden’s executive order that he signed on the fifth day of…
    Thomas Spoehr
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    • Opinion

    US Shouldn’t Squander Financial Leverage at United Nations

    In an article Monday in Foreign Policy magazine, former U.N. Ambassadors Madeleine Albright, John Negroponte, and Thomas Pickering call for the U.S. to pay its arrears to the United Nations to “regain credibility and moral authority.” But the article is misleading in places and wrong in its assumptions. Misleadingly, the trio write, “When the Trump…
    Brett Schaefer
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    • Opinion

    On Electoral Redistricting Panels, HR 1 Would Require Racial, Gender Discrimination

    HR 1, the so-called For the People Act, is a dangerous and radical bill. It threatens the security, fairness, and integrity of our elections and restricts the First Amendment rights of Americans to freely engage in political speech and activity.  It would force state legislatures to hand over the redistricting process to unaccountable bureaucrats and…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Scraps Advisory Council During Border Crisis

    In the midst of the crisis at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dismantled a longstanding, nonpartisan advisory body, announcing “a new model” Friday in a letter terminating most of its members. Mayorkas’ letter told 32 members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council that he is removing them, though they were appointed by…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    America’s National Defense Also Women’s Issue, Sen. Joni Ernst Says

    The Biden administration’s reported decision to hold America’s defense budget flat for the next fiscal year is concerning, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, says.  Ernst served in the U.S. military for more than 23 years before becoming a senator. Today, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Ernst is committed to promoting policies that…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    Nuclear Modernization Is Our Top Defense Priority, and America Can Afford It

    At a recent Heritage Foundation event, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., brought some needed simplicity to the debate over the affordability of nuclear modernization. After years of deferring nuclear modernization, the United States is now forced to take on multiple modernization projects all at once. This includes modernizing the three legs of the nuclear triad—land-, air-,…
    Patty-Jane Geller
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    • News

    GOP Senate Leaders Criticize Biden Team for Prioritizing Social Justice Over Working Americans

    Three top Senate Republicans have voiced concern to the Biden administration's Labor Department that it is prioritizing social justice above the interests of American workers. Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania—the respective ranking members of the Senate's Labor, Finance and Banking committees—wrote a letter Thursday responding to…
    Thomas Catenacci
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    • Opinion

    The Social Cost of Carbon and Climate Sensitivity Is Model Manipulation at Its Finest

    The “social cost of carbon” is a calculation that the Biden administration is looking to use to justify stringent regulation of carbon dioxide emissions. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt—joined by Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah—have now filed a lawsuit, arguing that the use of this metric in…
    Patrick J. Michaels
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    • Opinion

    Why Is Our Military Choosing New Enemies?

    The U.S. military has turned its wrath inward on Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his “revulsion” after Carlson questioned the role of women in combat. Keeping women mostly out of combat had been the U.S. military’s centuries-long orthodoxy until just a few years ago. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby even…
    Victor Davis Hanson
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    • Opinion

    Don’t Let the Department of Defense Become the Department of Distraction

    One of the fundamental roles of a leader is organizing people—knowing how to direct people’s efforts and where to allocate resources. Failing to establish clear priorities leads to wasted effort or, worse, mission failure. A famous maxim warns leaders: “If everything is important, nothing is.” No one should envy the job of Lloyd Austin, President…
    Thomas Spoehr
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