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

    Frank Talk at the Munich Security Conference

    MUNICH—The annual Munich Security Conference opened Friday with the largest U.S. delegation in the five decades of its history. The conference has grown into one of the leading forums for discussion of international issues.  Included in the list of participants for the 2019 conference are numerous heads of state, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel,…
    Thomas Spoehr
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    • Opinion

    Socialism Has Already Hurt America

    President Donald Trump was principled and politically astute to address, in his State of the Union, the horrors taking place now in Venezuela, and then to declare: “Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” Venezuela is indeed a poster child for what happens when a nation’s economic machinery falls…
    Star Parker
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    • Opinion

    California’s High-Speed Rail Failure Shows the Insanity of Green New Deal

    Even California can’t apparently support high-speed rail. Just a few hundred miles of high-speed rail in California was well on its way to exceeding $100 billion in costs by the time of completion. As a result, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the state will be massively shrinking the project. “Let’s be real,” Newsom, a…
    David Ditch
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    • Opinion

    The Constitution Rejects the Premise of Judicial Supremacy. So Should All Americans.

    Americans today are inclined to accept, without thinking much about it, the idea of judicial supremacy.  We think that the federal courts—and especially the Supreme Court—have an extensive discretion to decide for us the big questions of public policy that come before the nation.  After all, the Supreme Court has taken upon itself the authority…
    Carson Holloway
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    • Opinion

    Podcast: Social Justice Challenges America’s Founding Ideals

    Social justice—you’ve probably heard the term. It’s a buzzword, but it’s also an ideology. When you peel back the layers, it becomes quite clear that this new social justice ideology stands directly against America’s founding principles—things like blind justice and equality before the law. Noah Rothman writes about all this in his new book “Unjust:…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • News

    8 Takeaways From Acting AG Whitaker’s House Judiciary Committee Hearing

    Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker doesn’t expect to remain in the job for more than another week, as the Senate is expected to confirm nominee William Barr for the position. Whitaker has been in the office long enough, however, to be sharply grilled by Democrats—and a pair of Republicans—at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Friday….
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Sen. Mike Lee Slams Senate Judiciary Democrats for ‘Wildly Inappropriate’ Questions on Religion

    Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee condemned the Senate Judiciary Democrats on Thursday for questioning judicial nominees’ religious beliefs before the committee. Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono denied ever instituting a religious test and scolded Lee for what she believed was censuring her. “You can’t openly, publicly question a nominee about that nominee’s religious beliefs, about…
    Molly Prince
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    • News

    Trump Honors 3 D-Day Veterans During State of the Union Address

    During his State of the Union speech, President Donald Trump honored the service of three veterans who served in World War II. “On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 15,000 young American men jumped from the sky, and 60,000 more stormed in from the sea, to save our civilization from tyranny,” said Trump. “Here with us tonight…
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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    • Opinion

    4 Key Issues in Neomi Rao’s Judicial Confirmation Hearing

    The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held its first judicial confirmation hearing of the year for Neomi Rao, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacancy left by new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Rao fielded questions from senators about her college writings, whether…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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    • News

    Meet Trump’s State of the Union Special Guests

    President Donald Trump will put personal faces on the many policy issues his administration has been tackling this year with the guests he’s invited to his second State of the Union address Tuesday. Below is a list of the guests and their stories, drawing upon the information the White House provided. Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong,…
    Courtney Joyner
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    • News

    Democrat Senator Asks Judicial Nominee to Answer Whether Gay Marriage Is ‘Sinful’

    Sen. Cory Booker asked judicial nominee Neomi Rao during a hearing Tuesday if she believed same-sex relationships were “immoral.” “Are gay relationships, in your opinion, immoral?” Booker, D-N.J., asked Rao, who is nominated to be on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. If confirmed, Rao would replace Brett Kavanaugh,…
    Ginny Montalbano
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    • Opinion

    Maxine Waters Promises More Big Government in Her Financial Services Agenda

    Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., recently outlined her agenda as the new chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee. Unfortunately, a continued misdiagnosis of the most recent financial crisis stoked her calls for perpetuating heavy government involvement in the housing market and further intrusion into other financial sectors.  The hints of bipartisanship outreach on several matters,…
    Joel Griffith
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    • Opinion

    Today’s Venezuela: Where Socialism Meets Authoritarianism

    Many on the left have for years cheered Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, as heroes of “21st-century socialism.” Ironically, however, the undeniable downward spiral of Venezuela’s economic freedom and the far-reaching suffering of its people have put the true meaning to those “hero” claims: Socialism and corruption have destroyed Venezuela. In…
    Anthony B. Kim
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    • News

    4 Big Questions About Border Security Negotiations Over the Next 3 Weeks

    The federal government is again fully reopened—at least until Feb. 15—even as House and Senate negotiators are set to try to reach a deal on border security that President Donald Trump will sign. Trump announced on Friday a temporary truce, as House Democrats have refused to fund his proposed border wall. Trump has asked for…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Cartoon: Socialism Is Socialism

    Michael Ramirez
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    • News

    Bolton: US Has ‘Special Responsibility’ to Constitutional Government in Venezuela

    The United States is working to support what national security adviser John Bolton called the “constitutional government” in Venezuela, as two men are laying competing claims to the presidency of the South American nation. Socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro is trying to hold onto power after the United States recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido’s claim to…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Covington Catholic High School Announces Closure Over Security Concerns

    An all-boys Catholic school in Kentucky is closed over security concerns following a viral video showing its students in Make America Great Again hats in an encounter with an American Indian. While the initial video made it seem like the students were mocking American Indian Nathan Phillips, a complete, unedited version shows Phillips had approached the…
    Neetu Chandak
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    • Opinion

    Cartoon: The Left’s Hypocrisy on Border Security

    Michael Ramirez
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    • Opinion

    Why Privatizing Airport Security Is Good for American Taxpayers and Their Security

    The flu season isn’t the only thing keeping some Transportation Security Administration agents out of work. As the partial government shutdown rolls on, TSA paychecks aren’t coming in, and more agents are calling in “sick” as a result. On Monday, the TSA reported a nationwide absence rate of 6.8 percent. That’s far higher than the…
    David Inserra
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    • Opinion

    New Missile Defense Review Is a Well-Considered Response to a Changing Global Threat Landscape

    Amid reports that Russia is developing new cruise and ballistic missiles—including one that violates the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty—and assessments that North Korea now has a missile that can reach the United States, President Donald Trump visited the Pentagon on Thursday to release a report on America’s preparedness to combat global missile threats, the 2019…
    Thomas Spoehr
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