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

    The Earliest Signing of the NDAA in 40 Years Is a Giant Step in Rebuilding the Military

    With President Donald Trump’s signature Monday at Fort Drum, New York, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019 will be the earliest a defense authorization bill has become law since 1978. Forty years ago, the bill was 16 pages long and was called the “Department of Defense Appropriation Authorization Act,…
    Frederico Bartels
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    • Opinion

    Britain’s Inability to Handle Last Year’s Flu Season Shows Perils of Socialized Medicine

    Younger doctors who are flirting with support of government-run health care should consider some hard facts—including the unfortunate results such control would likely have for patients and doctors themselves. They should also look at the recent raw experience of Britain with a government-controlled health care system. But first, let’s look at the most serious plan…
    Kevin Pham
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    • News

    Media Misses: Op-Ed Suggests Being in Media Similar to Serving in Military

    We break down the top media moments this week—and plenty of misses. This week, the conspiracy website Infowars, which is run by Alex Jones, was either “banned” or had content stripped from most social media platforms. Infowars is hardly a conservative website, but some fear that the social media “deplatforming” of its content will bleed…
    Ginny Montalbano
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    • Opinion

    Why Democratic Socialists Can’t Legitimately Claim Sweden, Denmark as Success Stories

    Sen. Bernie Sanders and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are popularizing the philosophy of democratic socialism, especially among younger age groups. Meanwhile, the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) are gaining influence on college and high school campuses, claiming to have organizing activities planned at more than 250 campuses across the nation. The YDSA website describes…
    Julia Howe
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    • News

    Christian Student Group Sues University for Rejecting It as Official Club

    After expelling several religion-based student groups from campus for “discrimination,” the University of Iowa is being sued for religious discrimination. The University of Iowa chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA was one of the student clubs kicked off campus for not conforming to a university rule that clubs must eliminate a faith-based precondition to serve in…
    Jeremiah Poff
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    • News

    Republican Balderson Declares Victory in Close Ohio Special Congressional Election

    Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson appeared to have a slight edge in the Ohio special House election Tuesday, marking what could be a disappointment for Democrats, but a potential warning sign for the GOP. With 100 percent of precincts in, Balderson, 56, led Democrat Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor, 31, by 101,574 votes to 99,820…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    In Past Years, Feinstein, Schumer Said Nominee’s Judicial Record Most Important

    When President Donald Trump last month announced his nomination of federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the “American people deserve to know what kind of a justice” Kavanaugh would be. He’s right. How do you measure something like the “kind of a justice” a nominee…
    Thomas Jipping
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    • Opinion

    To Save More Lives, Reform FEMA

    Since October 2017, California has suffered severe fires and more extensive fire-related destruction than at any other point in its history. The fires have sadly killed dozens of people, turned over 10,000 homes to ash, scattering them to ever-hotter wind. Newspapers and first responders have decried the lack of communication among agencies, poor funding, and…
    Georgia Cline
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    • News

    Ukraine’s Soviet-Era Space Program Boosts a US Commercial Spaceflight Company’s Chances for Liftoff

    DNIPRO, Ukraine—From a 15th-floor balcony overlooking this city's Yuri Gagarin Park, American John Isella looks east beyond the skyline toward the Dnieper River. A forested expanse stretches to the horizon in the direction of the war,  about four hours away by car if you wanted to drive there. “It’s hard to believe the war is…
    Nolan Peterson
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    • News

    Trump Officials Warn of Russian Meddling in This Fall’s Elections

    Top Trump administration officials pledged Thursday to go all-out in fighting Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections, announcing efforts across the government. “Our democracy is in the crosshairs,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said during the White House press briefing. Nielsen said all 50 states are working with the Department of Homeland Security to…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    3 Poison Pills in the Homeland Security Funding Bill

    A series of amendments to an appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, adopted in the bill’s markup last week, would devastate the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. While much of the bill has good or noncontroversial policies, there are three specific problem areas that would be exacerbated by the amendments approved by the…
    David Inserra
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    • Opinion

    Why People Keep Falling for Socialism, Despite the Evidence

    Poverty is no mystery, and it’s easily avoidable. The poverty line that the Census Bureau used in 2016 for a single person was an income of $12,486 that year. For a two-person household, it was $16,072, and for a four-person household, it was $24,755. To beat those poverty thresholds is fairly simple. Here’s the road…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • Opinion

    NDAA Will Give Military Critical Boost in 2019

    The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, as approved in conference and passed by the House on July 26, will continue the progress begun in fiscal year 2018 in rebuilding the capacity, capabilities, and readiness of the U.S. military services. In so doing, it will enable them to regain their competitive…
    Tom Callender
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    • News

    U.Va. Alumni Back Disputed Hiring of Trump White House Aide

    Eleven prominent members of the University of Virginia’s alumni network released a letter Monday afternoon expressing support for President Donald Trump’s former legislative director, Marc Short, whose hiring as a scholar at a presidential center affiliated with the university is under partisan fire. Short’s defenders include former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (Class of ’91),…
    Katherine Rohloff
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    • Opinion

    The 2019 NDAA Provides Some Important New Authorities to Modernize the US Military

    The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year  2019, which is the reconciliation of earlier House and Senate versions, is good news for the military. It grants the Defense Department and the military services some significant new authorities to assist in rebuilding the armed forces. Additionally, on several issues, Congress wisely chose to…
    Tom Callender
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    • Opinion

    7 Steps Next Director Can Take to Make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Less Awful

    The Trump administration has nominated Kathy Kraninger to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Roll Call reports that her confirmation hearing was “as politically contentious as it’s gotten in the last year and a half” on the otherwise “senatorial Senate Banking Committee.” Ignore the political drama. The real story is…
    Norbert Michel
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    • Opinion

    Here’s How School Security Should Be Improved in 4 Easy Steps

    Since publication of an earlier commentary on four steps to achieving better school security, many organizations have been in contact to offer excellent additional ways to reach this desired end state. Again, there is no simple solution. We cannot just ban guns, or hand them out willy-nilly, and expect our kids to be safe. America must…
    Steven Bucci
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    • News

    Eric Bolling Warns High Schoolers About Opioids: ‘One Pill Can Kill’

    Following multiple calls from President Donald Trump after the death of his son, caused by an overdose on opioids, former Fox News host Eric Bolling knew that the opioid epidemic mattered to the president. “[The president] told me, ‘I don’t know how you’re doing it, but if I can help let me know,’” Bolling said…
    Jeremiah Poff
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    • Opinion

    Sorry If You’re Offended, but Socialism Leads to Misery and Destitution

    On the same day that Venezuela’s “democratically” elected socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, whose once-wealthy nation now has citizens foraging for food, announced he was lopping five zeros off the country’s currency to create a “stable financial and monetary system,” Meghan McCain of “The View” was the target of internet-wide condemnation for having stated some obvious…
    David Harsanyi
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    • Opinion

    Inflation to Hit 1 Million Percent in Collapsing, Socialist Venezuela

    Venezuela’s inflation may hit 1 million percent by the end of the year, the International Monetary Fund announced on Monday. This incredible hyperinflation is reminiscent of Weimar Germany during the years immediately after World War I, in which wheelbarrows full of cash were required to buy bare essential items, like a loaf of bread. That…
    Jarrett Stepman
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