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

    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 | Denitsa Nikolova
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  • 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 | Kelsey Bolar
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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 | Paul Fredrick | David Inserra
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  • 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
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  • 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….
    Robert B. Bluey
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • opinion

    An Opportunity for Real Reform at DHS
    There’s new potential for reform at the Department of Homeland Security. On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed its version of a Department of Homeland Security reauthorization bill that was passed by the House last year. This could be the first time DHS will be reauthorized since its creation—and it also…
    Paul Fredrick | David Inserra
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  • opinion

    Podcast: The Week in Review, Plus a New Hope for Military Families
    On our week-in-review show, Editor-in-Chief Rob Bluey and Managing Editor Katrina Trinko recap the top stories making news. They cover President Donald Trump’s meeting with North Korea, legislative activity on school safety, tariffs, judicial nominees, and country music’s political controversy. Plus, Bluey talks to Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., about his plan to give military families…
    Robert B. Bluey | Katrina Trinko
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  • opinion

    Keeping an Obama Holdover at VA Is Proving Disastrous
    Will the VA scandal never end? While the Department of Veterans Affairs secretary lives high on the hog and his lying chief of staff resigns in disgrace while escaping any punishment, legions of vets every day in this country are denied the medical care they earned. President Donald Trump was supposed to drain the swamp….
    Michelle Malkin
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  • opinion

    Why Congress Should Modernize Impact Aid for Children of Military Families
    Kathleen Jones and her family were “trying to figure out the next chapter in their lives.” Her husband spent 28 years in the military, so the Jones family was making adjustments in Arizona for life after military service. Doctors diagnosed both of their boys as being on the autism spectrum, so finding the best services…
    Jonathan Butcher
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  • opinion

    Homeland Security Oversight Is a Mess. Here’s What Should Change.
    Since its founding in 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has never been reauthorized, which has allowed various problems to fester. Last July, the House passed a reauthorization bill that addressed many of the problems. But more can be done to address the inefficient and complex congressional oversight structure that continues to plague the department….
    Paul Fredrick | David Inserra
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  • opinion

    Kansas Republicans Are Standing Up to Transgender Lies, Protecting Kids From Harm
    In 1856, a new political party held its convention in Philadelphia. They called themselves “Republicans.” As violent skirmishes in “bleeding Kansas” foreshadowed civil war, the delegates took their stand, resolving that “it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism—polygamy, and slavery.” This…
    Eric Teetsel
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  • news

    Goal of Nuclear Posture Remains Deterrence, Pentagon Official Says
    A new report on the nation’s nuclear defense posture focuses on how to strengthen America and her allies, a top Pentagon official says. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review “re-establishes deterrence of nuclear attack against us, our allies, and our partners as the top priority of U.S. nuclear policy,” David J. Trachtenberg, the Defense Department’s deputy…
    Rachel del Guidice
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