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.
Filter articles by
    • News

    Special Counsel Says Trump Aide Knowingly Communicated With Former Russian Spy

    Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was in contact just before the 2016 election with a man he knew to be a former Russian spy, according to a document filed Tuesday by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The revelation comes in a sentencing memorandum filed about Alex van der Zwaan, a London-based lawyer who pleaded guilty in…
    Chuck Ross
    Read More
    • Opinion

    4 Steps to Better School Security

    America has continued the heated debate as to what must be done to adequately protect our children at schools. Some (mistakenly) just say “ban guns,” or at least the ones they don’t like. Others (I am afraid equally mistakenly) say just put more guns into schools. The answer is more complex, however, and will take…
    Steven Bucci
    Read More
    • News

    Suspect Charged in Connection With Suspicious Packages Sent to Military Bases

    A man is in custody in connection with suspicious packages found at military bases in the metropolitan Washington area. Thanh Cong Phan, 43, appeared in court in Washington state Tuesday, a little more than 24 hours after 11 packages arrived at the bases, CBS News reported. Phan previously had written crank letters to the military, CBS reported,…
    Henry Rodgers
    Read More
    • News

    US Joins Growing Coalition in Expelling Russian Officials Over Poisoning Incident

    At least 26 countries have expelled Russian citizens in retaliation for Russia’s alleged involvement in a nerve agent attack against a former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, England. President Donald Trump moved to support British Prime Minister Theresa May by approving the expulsion Monday of 60 Russian diplomats or intelligence officers from the…
    Ginny Montalbano
    Read More
    • News

    What John Bolton Brings to the Job of National Security Adviser

    John Bolton, who has a history of advocating muscular foreign policy, will guide the White House as the new national security adviser in facing threats from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, experts note. President Donald Trump picked Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, to replace…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • News

    Sen. Tom Cotton Backs Stricter Penalties for Fentanyl, Calling It a ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’

    Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has filed legislation to allow stricter prison terms for dealers of fentanyl, a substance he calls a “weapon of mass destruction.” Cotton introduced the legislation Thursday along with Senate colleagues who include Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. The bill would significantly reduce the amount of fentanyl a person…
    Steve Birr
    Read More
    • Opinion

    ‘Problematic Women’: Special Edition From the White House

    On a special edition of “Problematic Women” from the White House, The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness and The Federalist’s Bre Payton take on John Oliver’s targeting of Vice President Mike Pence’s daughter’s new children’s book, Jim Carrey’s attack on Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appearance, and Hillary Clinton’s excuses for her inflammatory comments last week. We also discuss the…
    Bre Payton
    Read More
    • Opinion

    35 Years On, Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative Pays Dividends

    Thirty-five years ago, on March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared, “Isn’t it worth every investment necessary to free the world from the threat of nuclear war? We know it is.” Thus the president introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative, “a comprehensive, layered ballistic missile defense program,” to the world. Thirty-five years later, the United States,…
    Michaela Dodge
    Read More
    • News

    Daily Signal Exclusive: Kellyanne Conway on the Opioid Crisis, Her Critics, and Being a ‘Problematic Woman’

    Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, spoke to The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness and The Federalist’s Bre Payton about the administration’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis, how she handles critics, and her take on feminism. Conway spoke at the White House’s Generation Next forum for millennials Thursday. An edited transcript of the interview…
    Bre Payton
    Read More
    • News

    Democrat Conor Lamb Clinches Pennsylvania Special Election

    In a race determined by hundreds of votes out of about 228,000 cast, the Republican candidate for a Pennsylvania district conceded Wednesday to his Democratic opponent. Democrat Conor Lamb announced Wednesday night that his GOP opponent, Rick Saccone, had called to concede the Nov. 13 election in the Pittsburgh area district. “Just got off the…
    Amber Randall
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Pennsylvania’s Special Election Is a Wake-Up Call. Here Are 2 Lessons for Conservatives.

    I’m perplexed why many in Republican circles are rationalizing and dismissing the gravity of the Democratic victory in the recent special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th District. My sentiments are more with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is cautioning Republicans to view this as a wake-up call to a possible disaster in the fall elections…
    Star Parker
    Read More
    • Opinion

    4 Questions Lawmakers Should Ask Trump’s Trade Officials in Hearings This Week

    Following weeks of not-so-free trade policies from the White House, members of Congress will soon have an opportunity to probe the administration on policy as well as the processes for imposing unilateral tariffs. The House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees will hold hearings this week on the Trump administration’s trade agenda, where two of…
    Tori K. Smith
    Read More
    • Opinion

    US Is Right to Sanction Russia for Cyberattacks and Meddling

    The Trump administration Thursday issued sanctions on Russia for a series of cyberattacks and for its meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Treasury is targeting five Kremlin intelligence agencies, including the Federal Security Service and Internet Research Agency, and 19 individuals indicted by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller for interfering in the election….
    Alexis Mrachek
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Why We Should Appreciate Andrew Jackson, Despite His Flaws

    President Donald Trump hosted an event in the Oval Office in November to honor three Navajo code talkers who served during World War II. Characteristically, he made news when he referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as “Pocahontas” because of her contested claim of Native American ancestry. Also raising eyebrows was the fact that a…
    Richard Lim
    Read More
    • News

    Q&A: Rep. Jim Banks Explains How School Choice Strengthens National Security

    A new bill introduced in Congress last week would provide more educational choice for military families. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., allows military families to open an education savings account for funding a child's education expenses. The money could be used for private school tuition, textbooks, online classes, private tutoring, and college tuition….
    Rob Bluey
    Read More
    • News

    7 Big Takeaways From That Special Election in Pennsylvania

    Little more than 600 votes out of more than 227,000 cast separate the top two candidates in the special election for a House seat in Pennsylvania, as Democrat Conor Lamb maintained a slim lead over Republican Rick Saccone, with no official winner. #BREAKING: With 100% precincts reporting, Democrat Conor Lamb has 113,111 votes and Republican…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Students, Forget DC Marches. Instead, Look at the Failures of Your Own School Officials.

    Here is my homework assignment for all the fist-clenching, gun control-demanding teenagers walking out of classrooms this week (and next week and next month) to protest school shootings: Ask not what the rest of the country can do for your local school’s safety; ask what your local school boards and superintendents have been failing to…
    Michelle Malkin
    Read More
    • Opinion

    China Copes With Insecurity by Boosting National Security Spending

    Although much of the discussion of the Chinese National People’s Congress has focused on the removal of term limits, effectively extending Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s) hold on power, the session also has seen yet another increase in China’s national security spending. Both developments point to a sense of insecurity in…
    Dean Cheng
    Read More
    • News

    In Blow to Trump, Democrat Poised to Win Close Pennsylvania Special Election

    Democrat Conor Lamb appears to have captured a tight victory in a special election for a Pennsylvania U.S. House seat. But the final verdict still hinges on absentee and provisional ballots. As of Wednesday morning, the Associated Press is not calling the race. However, Lamb has declared victory, as has the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee….
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    America Is the Best Place in History for Racial Minorities

    At the City College of New York in the late 1930s, my father, an Orthodox Jew, wrote his senior class thesis on anti-Semitism in America. He delineated common realities of the era, such as Jews’ admission to law firms, country clubs and colleges being denied or restricted, and various other manifestations of popular and institutional…
    Dennis Prager
    Read More