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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  • news

    Top Trump Administration Officials Discuss How to Fight Anti-Semitism
    A Justice Department summit on fighting anti-Semitism brought together Trump administration leaders such as Attorney General William Barr and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with prominent figures in the Jewish community. “I am deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes and political violence that we have seen over the past decade,” Barr said in his…
    Kaylee Greenlee
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  • opinion

    I Went to a Socialism Conference. Here Are My 6 Observations.
    While you were enjoying your Fourth of July weekend, I was attending a national conference on socialism. Why? Because socialism is having its moment on the left. Since there’s often confusion as to what socialism really is, I decided to attend the Socialism 2019 conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago over the Fourth of…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • opinion

    The Totally, Utterly Irrefutable Case Against Socialism
    When a dozen of conservatism’s best minds take on Socialism and expose it for the utopian fraud it is, attention must be paid. In a brief foreword to a special issue of National Review, Editor-in-Chief Richard Lowry admitted that many conservatives thought socialism in America had been “vanquished” after the collapse of Soviet Communism 30…
    Lee Edwards
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  • opinion

    The Opioid Epidemic and the Overcriminalization Impulse
    During the first round of the recent Democratic primary debates, Sen. Cory Booker seemed at first to appreciate the dangers of overcriminalization. “Our country has made so many mistakes by criminalizing things … . We know that this is not the way to deal with problems,” the New Jersey Democrat said June 26. But then,…
    GianCarlo Canaparo
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  • opinion

    Illinois Politicians Are to Blame for Tax Hikes, Not Washington
    Illinois lawmakers recently moved one step closer to raising state income taxes. It’s the last thing Illinois needs—residents and businesses are already leaving the state in droves due, in large part, to the inhospitable tax climate. The irony is that the same politicians who are about to pass these tax hikes have been howling for…
    Adam Michel | Travis Nix
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  • opinion

    House Defense Bill Would Fail to Rebuild the Military
    The House Armed Services Committee needs to do more if it’s serious about continuing to rebuild the military and meeting the challenges outlined in the president’s National Defense Strategy. It all starts with the budget. Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., has proposed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act funding our nation’s defense at $733…
    Will Coudret | Frederico Bartels
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  • opinion

    She Survived China’s Forced Labor Camp. Now She’s Urging Americans to Reject Socialism.
    Jennifer Zeng grew up admiring the Communist Party of China and adhering to its stringent rules. But her life changed forever when she embraced religion and was swept up in a government crackdown on Falun Gong. Arrested four times as a young adult and held in as a prisoner in a labor camp, she quickly…
    Robert B. Bluey
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  • opinion

    It’s Actually OK to Be Proud of the Military on Independence Day
    Some are hyperventilating over reports that this year’s annual Independence Day celebration in Washington will feature remarks by President Donald Trump, military flyovers, and stationary displays of Army equipment, including tanks.  The Washington Post highlighted the increased costs of the event and expressed anxiety over how there was a chance that tanks and other heavy…
    Thomas Spoehr
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  • news

    2020 Election Meddling by China, Iran, N. Korea Likely, Administration Officials Warn
    Russia isn’t the only threat to election security going into 2020, as Trump administration officials say they are preparing for meddling from Iran, China, and North Korea.  The federal government anticipates that Russia will again meddle in the U.S. election in 2020 through “Russian-controlled or influenced English-language media, false-flag operations, or sympathetic spokespersons,” a senior…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    Homeland Security Investigations Uncover Hundreds of ‘Fraudulent Families’ at the Southern Border
    The Department of Homeland Security revealed just how common “fraudulent families” are among the thousands of illegal immigrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border every month. “Beginning in April 2019, [Homeland Security Investigations] dedicated over 400 personnel to assist [Customs and Border Protection] in combating this issue. HSI interviewed teams to interview persons suspected of attempting entry…
    Jason Hopkins
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  • opinion

    How Sole Sources of Military Spare Parts Squander Defense Dollars, Risk National Security
    How would you react to a store selling a gallon of milk for $180, a price about 45 times the average cost? The House Oversight and Reform Committee confronted this question recently at a hearing on TransDigm, a company that left the Defense Department with the dilemma of choosing between wasting taxpayer resources or failing…
    Emma Watkins | Nathan Royce
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  • opinion

    Latin America Is Pivoting From Socialism to Freedom
    South America’s attempt at a leftist version of the European Union is on life support. The regional grouping, called the Union of South American Nations, was founded in 2008 and funded by Hugo Chavez’s then-oil rich Venezuela. The group aimed at spreading Chavez’s “socialism for the 21st century” throughout South America. In the years since…
    James M. Roberts | Jordan Parrish
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  • opinion

    Why a Bigger Social Security Program Would Make Us Worse Off
    The truth is unavoidable: Social Security is insolvent. It’s set to run out of money to pay scheduled benefits in about 15 years, barring action from Congress. Policymakers have only a handful of options to avoid a roughly 25% cut in benefits for everyone. They can raise taxes, cut benefits, or enact a combination of…
    Rachel Greszler
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  • opinion

    Celebrating Juneteenth in the Long March to Freedom and Racial Equality
    A review of American history and the nation’s relationship to blacks reveals a slow and often bloody march to equality. In a now-famous letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, Lincoln noted that his primary mission was to save the Union and that he would do so…
    Christopher Metzler
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  • opinion

    He Grew Up Under Socialism. Now He’s Urging Young People to Reject It.
    Daniel Di Martino grew up in Venezuela, and left the country after socialism took its grip. Now, he’s on a mission to convince young people that socialism is destructive. Our colleague and senior news producer, Kelsey Bolar, recently sat down with Di Martino to hear his story, and today we share that exclusive interview. Plus:…
    Daniel Davis | Rachel del Guidice
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  • opinion

    What It Will Take to Rebuild and Sustain the Military
    The House Armed Services Committee and its Senate counterpart have finally passed their respective versions of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, with the House coming in at $733 billion and the Senate matching, in general terms, the Trump administration’s request for $750 billion. While the $17 billion difference between the two is a significant…
    Dakota Wood
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  • opinion

    How Victim Mentality Is Pushing Women Toward Socialism
    Americans are no longer just flirting with the idea of socialism. They’re increasingly enamored by it. And women, in particular, are some of its biggest fans. It makes sense, in a way. When women are told enough times that they’re oppressed victims who need expansive government programs to address structural inequalities, they’re likely to start…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    Maine’s Adoption of Physician-Assisted Suicide Accelerates an Ominous Trend
    Maine just became the eighth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, a practice that turns medicine on its head. Instead of promoting the health and wholeness of the patient, physician-assisted suicide–also legal in the District of Columbia–promotes the dangerous idea that some lives are not worth living. That message has far-reaching effects for the medical profession,…
    Monica Burke
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  • opinion

    How Racial Quotas Are Hurting Minority Kids in Connecticut
    Connecticut has put in place diversity quotas for certain magnet schools, meaning the racial breakdown of those schools has to stay relatively fixed. That policy is backfiring on the state, which is now being sued by parents—largely African American—saying that it adversely affects their kids. I recently sat down with Gwen Samuel, the plaintiff in…
    Daniel Davis | Rachel del Guidice
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  • news

    Trump Lauds Departing Press Chief Sanders as ‘Special Person’ for Doing ‘an Incredible Job’
    White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her post at the end of June and will return to Arkansas. President Donald Trump announced the departure on Twitter late Thursday afternoon. “After 3½ years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home…
    Fred Lucas
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