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

    Defense Authorization Bills Advance US Missile Defense and Nuclear Weapons Priorities

    Congress is currently deliberating the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018. The NDAA is an important tool for Congress as it offers it an opportunity to influence defense policy, as well as indicate its wishes with regard to armed forces and defense programs. How do the two versions of the NDAA measure up…
    Michaela Dodge
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    • Opinion

    House’s Refusal to Reassess Military Bases Will Lead to Unnecessary Costs

    In passing its version of the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the House of Representatives shot down the Pentagon’s plans to make more efficient use of its resources by reassessing military bases. The legislative body decided to maintain the prohibition on conducting a new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), even though…
    Frederico Bartels
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    • Opinion

    This Official Had the Spine to Stand Up to the Powerful CFPB. Congress Should Follow His Lead.

    Three cheers for Keith Noreika, the acting comptroller of the currency, for having the chutzpah to challenge the regulatory deceit of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its director, Richard Cordray. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Noreika on Monday took the unusual (and commendable) step of calling for delay of the bureau’s new and…
    Diane Katz
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    • Opinion

    Harvard’s Proposed Policy Would Punish Students for Having Normal Social Lives

    For the second time in less than two years, Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana is expanding paternalistic restrictions and sanctions on the student body based on whom they choose to be friends with. In an email to the student body on July 12, the dean reported that the “USGSO Committee”—which handles policy on “unrecognized single-gender…
    Emily Hall
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    • Opinion

    Social Security Reform Is Urgent and Necessary

    Late in the afternoon on Thursday last week, the Social Security Administration released its annual trustees’ report. As is often the case when government entities have bad news to report, they do so on a schedule that makes it easier to bury the information. The American people need to know the state of finances of…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    To Maximize Defense Funds, Congress Should Look at Closing and Realigning Military Bases

    Leaders in the business world often have to make painful decisions in order to meet long-term strategic goals and keep up with market trends. For example, Sears Holdings announced earlier this year that it plans to close 150 unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores. If Sears Holdings attempted to keep these stores open, it would damage…
    Andrew Nagode
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    • News

    You’re Fired: Trump’s VA Terminates 548, Suspends 200 for Misconduct

    Five hundred and forty-eight Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been terminated since President Donald Trump took office, indicating that his campaign pledge to clean up “probably the most incompetently run agency in the United States” by relentlessly putting his TV catchphrase “you’re fired” into action was more than just empty rhetoric. Another 200 VA workers were suspended…
    Luke Rosiak
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    • Opinion

    Congress Should Protect Taxpayers, Not Cave to Agricultural Special Interests, in Next Budget

    The House and Senate agriculture committees, as evidenced by their recent farm bill hearings and complaints about wanting more handouts, seem to be focused on funneling money to agricultural special interests—even at the expense of taxpayers and consumers. There needs to be a check on these committees so that the interests of taxpayers and consumers…
    Daren Bakst
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    • Opinion

    How to Save Rural America From the Opioid Crisis

    Despite his gaunt frame and sunken eyes, he walks with a distinct swagger down Tuscarawas Street. At the intersection with Cherry Street, he turns and faces the road with a blank stare. The ink on his neck and hands suggest he’s spent time in prison. There are small faint bruises on one arm. His eyes…
    Salena Zito
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    • News

    Jeff Flake Says No Pay for VA Union Leaders Who Skip Work While Vets Wait

    Veterans have waited months for medical appointments while the Department of Veterans Affairs union said that it needs more employees, but 1,606 employees—including many nurses—let veterans wait while they collected a taxpayer check to work on union business instead of what they were hired to do, according to VA data obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation….
    Luke Rosiak
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    • Opinion

    I’m a Pediatrician. How Transgender Ideology Has Infiltrated My Field and Produced Large-Scale Child Abuse.

    Transgender politics have taken Americans by surprise, and caught some lawmakers off guard. Just a few short years ago, not many could have imagined a high-profile showdown over transgender men and women’s access to single-sex bathrooms in North Carolina. But transgender ideology is not just infecting our laws. It is intruding into the lives of…
    Michelle Cretella
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    • News

    Defense Department Delays Costly Transgender Policy, for Now

    Defense Secretary James Mattis has granted the request of top military brass to postpone the Obama-era policy of admitting openly transgender individuals to the armed services until Jan. 1, but a delay is only the first step to blocking the policy, opponents said. That’s because LGBT activists and the RAND Corp. have been scripting implementation plans from…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Active Cyber Defense Will Help Deter Future Threats

    On Tuesday, a massive cyberattack hit Ukraine. The very next day, professor Scott Jasper of the Naval Postgraduate School offered a systematic analysis of the United States’ existing strategic cyber deterrence options, of which active cyber defense will play the leading role in the years ahead. Active cyber defense may be the answer to the…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Meet the Socialist Leader Who’s Driving Bolivia Into the Ground

    Socialist Evo Morales has been president of Bolivia for over a decade. Although he claims to be working for the people, his populist policies have been a major roadblock on Bolivia’s path to economic growth and development. During the Morales years, Bolivia has plunged in The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Economic Freedom. It remains…
    Charles Busch
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    • Opinion

    Getting the Opioid Epidemic Right

    The numbers are staggering. Until about a month ago, we had thought drug overdoses were responsible for some 52,000 American lives in 2015. Now the most recent reporting reveals that number may be closer to 60,000 in 2016. Think about that: We could now build the equivalent of one Vietnam Memorial Wall a year given…
    William Bennett
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    • Opinion

    Amid the Ruins of Expo ’92 in Southern Spain, Where Socialism Grinds On

    The Heritage Foundation has been on the road in Spain’s southern region of Andalucía promoting economic freedom. One stop was Seville, a city that is sorely in need of hearing that message. Seville has been an important urban center since the Middle Ages. It was from the nearby Atlantic port of Cádiz that Christopher Columbus…
    James M. Roberts
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    • Opinion

    Ukraine Was Hit by a Massive Cyberattack. Why the US Must Keep Up Support for This Key Ally.

    Large-scale cyberattacks against Ukraine on Tuesday reportedly hit government ministries, including the Cabinet of Ministers, several banks, a state power distributor, the Ukrainian postal service, a state-run aircraft manufacturer, and Boryspil airport in Kyiv, among other targets. The cyberattacks have also affected companies outside of Ukraine, including an advertising firm in the United Kingdom; Maersk,…
    Daniel Kochis
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    • Opinion

    This Alternative to the Laptop Ban Would Tighten Airport Security at Low Inconvenience

    U.S. officials say they have uncovered evidence that the Islamic State was using Mosul University laboratories to develop bombs that could pass through airport screeners undetected. When the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, captured Mosul, it also took possession of the modern screening equipment at Mosul’s airport that would allow it to test its new bomb…
    Max Morrison
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    • Opinion

    The Opioid Crisis Is Dire. Why We Need a National Conversation About It Separate From Obamacare.

    Whatever the merits or demerits of the recently released Senate version of the GOP health care bill, some have suggested that it should put more funding into treating opioid addiction. Let’s be honest—the opioid crisis in America is huge, it is severe, and it is devastating. But this partisan-fought legislation just isn’t the place to…
    Seth Leibsohn
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    • News

    What a Wounded Veteran Thinks of Trump’s VA Reform

    Sgt. Mike Verardo’s military career ended seven years ago because of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, but he said the worst part of his injuries was dealing with a “broken VA” when he returned home. He had to go to the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital weekly, wait 57 days for a prosthetic leg, make…
    Fred Lucas
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