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

    EXCLUSIVE: How Transportation Secretary Will Help Trump Defund Woke Universities

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to revamp the agency’s university grant program after axing requirements that the schools fund diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental initiatives, The Daily Signal can first report. Duffy plans to announce $33 million in grants to universities to “unleash American innovation.” This comes after the Department…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • News

    Military Is Tossing ‘New Age Notions’ and Will Make Chaplain Corps ‘Great Again,’ Hegseth Announces

    Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has pledged to toss “New Age notions” in America’s Chaplain Corps and make the military body “great again.”   “In recent decades, its role has been degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism,” Hegseth said of the Chaplain Corps in a video message released Tuesday night.   “Chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    Mark Kelly Faces Escalated Review of Alleged Misconduct From Pentagon

    The Pentagon is plowing ahead in its investigation of Arizona Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly, who told service members they “can refuse illegal orders.” “The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an…
    George Caldwell
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    • Opinion

    This Anti-Christian Group May Be Out of Power Now, But Its Popularity Among Dems Bodes Ill for the Future

    Even a year later, it’s hard to wrap your head around the upside-down world of the Biden administration: The White House celebrated transgender ideology on Easter Sunday, your tax dollars funded the settlement of immigrants who broke the law to come here, and authorities turned to an Antifa-linked group whose “hate map” inspired an act…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • News

    Gabbard: 2,000 Afghan Refugees in US Have Ties to Terrorism

    THE CENTER SQUARE—An estimated 2,000 Afghan nationals admitted to the United States following the deadly 2021 pullout of American forces from Afghanistan have ties to terrorism, according to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard made the astonishing revelation during an interview on Fox News Friday morning, following a tense House Homeland Security Committee hearing…
    Sarah Roderick-Fitch
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    • News

    Drama-Filled Vote-Trading on House Floor Ends With Passage of Massive Defense Bill

    The House of Representative passed the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense bill, by a vote of 312-112 Wednesday evening after a drama-filled day on the House floor. The NDAA, with over a $900 billion price tag, received support from both Republicans and Democrats, a rarity this Congress, as House Speaker Mike Johnson has…
    George Caldwell
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    • News

    NDAA Aims to Block DOW Contracts With Groups That ‘Blacklist Conservative News Sources’

    The National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision aimed at defending conservative media.   The NDAA prohibits the Department of War from forming contracts for the purpose of advertising for military recruitment with “advertising firms like NewsGuard that blacklist conservative news sources,” according to the House Armed Services Committee summary of the bill.   “Major advertising agencies have been effectively censoring conservative media by blocking ads and their…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    The Navy Declares War on Bureaucratic Inefficiency

    The U.S. Navy publicly launched its new Rapid Capabilities Office, which is designed to improve the critical capabilities procurement process in a bid to ensure American maritime dominance into the next century. At the kickoff event hosted at the Capital Turnaround in Washington on Tuesday, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan explained that the new…
    Jacob Adams
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: VA Houses Largest Number of Homeless Veterans Since 2019

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Veterans Affairs has permanently housed the largest number of homeless veterans since 2019. The VA housed 51,936 veterans experiencing homelessness in fiscal year 2025, the agency announced in a news release first provided to The Daily Signal. This represents the largest number since fiscal year 2019 and 4,011…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • Opinion

    Payroll Costs of the Federal Swamp Exploded 24% During Biden Era

    There were 5% more federal workers—2.77 million in 2020 to 2.90 million in 2025—when President Joe Biden left the White House, but the costs of paying this vast legion of bureaucrats exploded 24% during the same period, according to a new report by a nonprofit government watchdog. Much of the skyrocketing payroll costs is due to spiking…
    Mark Tapscott
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    • News

    Government Shutdown Ends With Trump’s Signature Hours After House Passes Funding Bill

    The longest government shutdown in history is over after President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government into law on Wednesday night, just hours after the House of Representatives passed the measure. “Today, we’re sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” Trump said before signing the bill. “The…
    Bradley Devlin
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    • News

    With These 3 Bills, Arizona’s Biggs Salutes Veterans

    Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., has introduced three bills intended to enhance the well-being of American veterans through improvements in burial procedures, oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and vets’ health care. “As Veterans Day approaches, Congress must recommit to honoring our nation’s heroes not just in word, but in deed,” Biggs told The Daily Signal….
    Jacob Adams
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    • Opinion

    Strengthening Veteran Mental Health: A Vital Mission

    Every morning, the secretaries of Veterans Affairs and War receive updates on suicides among service members and veterans. The numbers paint a dire picture of mental health across the armed forces. The Department of War’s most recent data, released in its 2024 Annual Report on Suicide in the Military, reported 523 suicides across the Total…
    Mo Syed
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    • News

    Senate Defeats Schumer-led Opposition to Opening Government; Funding Bill Heads to House

    The government shutdown is another step closer to coming to an end after the Senate voted in favor of a bill to fund the government. The Senate passed a measure that would fund the entire government through Jan. 30 by a vote of 60 to 40 on Monday night. Thirty-eight Senate Democrat Caucus members, led…
    Bradley Devlin
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    • News

    Senate Votes to Put Congress on Path Toward Ending Government Shutdown

    A bipartisan group of senators voted 60-40 to approve a key procedural measure that puts legislation reopening the government on track to pass the Senate. Eight Democrat senators—Illinois’ Dick Durbin, Maine’s Angus King, Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, and Virginia’s Tim Kaine—joined 52…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Trump on Track to Recoup $10M Improperly Paid to Agency’s Senior Executives Under Biden

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Biden administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs improperly awarded $10.8 million in bonuses meant for staffers who directly serve veterans to highly paid senior executives. Under President Donald Trump, the agency is close to recovering the remainder of the lost funds. The VA improperly awarded $10.8 million in “critical skills incentives”…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    Will the Democrats Finally Have a Primary in 2028?

    Democrats haven’t had a real primary since 2008, and I’m not bullish on the chances for a real contest in 2028, either. By contrast, Donald Trump took the Republican Party by storm in 2016 and 2024, and he has reinvigorated the party and reshaped American politics, becoming the most influential political figure since … the…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • News

    Shutdown Will Disrupt Air Travel, Transportation Chief Warns

    Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy delivered a stern message at the Capitol on Thursday: The federal government shutdown is already putting a strain on air traffic controllers, and the problem will only get worse until the government reopens. “Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that [air traffic controllers] will not receive for the work that…
    George Caldwell
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    • News

    3 Out of 4 Terrorists Since 9/11 Are Foreign-Born, but More Than Half Citizens

    @SecNeilsen says the report “is a clear reminder of why we cannot continue to rely on immigration policy based on pre-9/11 thinking.” When someone tweets the published story by clicking on the Twitter icon above it, this text appears along with photo, SEO headline, and meta description; all three elements should work together and cause…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    As Shutdown Pain Intensifies, Republicans Ratchet Up Pressure on Dems

    After a half-dozen votes by Democrats against a short-term continuing resolution to reopen the federal government, Republicans are turning up the temperature on them, accusing Democrats of relishing the suffering of the American people. “The Democrats are playing games. It’s political theater today. They’ve reduced America’s pain to a political prop,” House Speaker Mike Johnson,…
    George Caldwell
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