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

    Judge Warns 9th Circuit’s Use of Trump Campaign Pledge ‘Judicial Psychoanalysis’

    A federal judge is raising an alarm about “judicial psychoanalysis” resulting from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on President Donald Trump’s executive order on “extreme vetting.” Last week, the 9th Circuit voted against rehearing the case that a three-judge panel had previously ruled on in affirming the federal district judge’s temporary restraining…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Transportation Reforms Take to the Fast Lane in Trump Budget

    Following on his pledge to eliminate wasteful and inappropriate federal programs, President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint delivers when it comes to the Department of Transportation. Trump’s budget blueprint shears the Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget by $2.4 billion—some 13 percent—by slashing some of its most egregious programs. Although most of the department’s funding is classified as…
    Michael Sargent
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    • Opinion

    Conservatives Do Believe in Social Justice. Here’s What Our Vision Looks Like.

    Last month, America lost a great defender of freedom, Michael Novak. Novak was committed to rightly ordered liberty and cared deeply about the principles and practices that produce it. His enormous body of work emphasized the cultural prerequisites for political and economic freedom, as he stressed that economic conservativism and social conservatism are indivisible. In…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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    • Opinion

    Natural Disasters Are Costing FEMA Way Too Much Money. Here’s What’s Wrong.

    As winter storms spread across the Midwest and Northeast this week, many Americans prepared for the worst by stocking up on necessities. But what about the Federal Emergency Management Agency or state and local governments? Are they prepared for the worst? Sadly, the answer appears to be no. Prior to 1988 and the passage of…
    Garrison Rutledge
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    • News

    VA Hospital Removes Trump Photo Hung by Veterans

    A Veterans Affairs hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, is facing questions today for removing photos of President Donald Trump and VA Secretary David Shulkin. (Update: The White House has ordered VA hospitals to hang Trump’s photo.) Fox News’ Ed Henry reported Thursday on “Fox & Friends” that U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and a wounded…
    Daily Signal Staff
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    • Opinion

    Trump’s Unique Opportunity to Reform Social Security

    As President Donald Trump is preparing his first budget submission to the Congress, he should consider making Social Security reform a priority. The future of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and disability programs, and their impact on American families, the federal budget, and the economy, are issues too big to ignore. Social Security reform is…
    Jonathan Iwaskiw
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    • News

    Suspect in House IT Security Probe Also Had Access to DNC Emails

    Imran Awan—the lead suspect in a criminal probe into breaches of House of Representatives information security systems—possessed the password to an iPad used by then-Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz when DNC emails were given to WikiLeaks, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned. Wasserman Schultz resigned the DNC post in the…
    Luke Rosiak
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    • Opinion

    Cartoon: National Security Leaks

    Michael Ramirez
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    • News

    Hill Staffers in Security Probe Said to Keep Stepmom in ‘Captivity’ to Access Cash

    Congressional staffers are accused of holding their stepmother in “captivity” with violent threats in a plan to use her to access money stashed away in the Middle East. The staffers are suspected of using their positions to enrich themselves. Days before U.S. Capitol Police told House members that three Pakistani brothers who ran their computer networks may have…
    Luke Rosiak
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    • Opinion

    Kansas City Bombing Scheme Becomes First Terror Plot of 2017

    The FBI arrested Robert Lorenzo Hester on Feb. 17 and charged him with planning bombings in Kansas City, Missouri. The FBI said Hester, of Columbia, Missouri, plotted with undercover agents to use pipe bombs, some fitted with nails for maximum damage, to attack a train station and nearby buses. This was the 94th confirmed Islamist-inspired terror…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Trump’s Defense Proposal Would Boost a Languishing Military

    On Monday, President Donald Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, announced that the administration will seek a defense budget of $603 billion for 2018—“one of the largest increases in history.” Trump said nondefense spending would be cut by an equal $54 billion, “the largest proposed reduction since the early years of the Reagan administration.” The White House…
    Thomas Spoehr
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    • News

    Here’s What Conservative College Students Think About Socialism

    Hundreds of students from across the country traveled to the Washington, D.C., area last week to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Daily Signal asked some of these students their thoughts on socialism, and why they oppose it. Watch our video to hear their thoughts.
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • News

    At CPAC, Panelists Discuss Role Vetting, Assimilation Play in National Security

    Extreme vetting and a border wall are the key issues facing the country under President Donald Trump’s administration—but aren’t the silver bullet solution to immigration, experts and members of Congress said Saturday. “Extreme vetting is something that applies to the refugee side of this debate,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., during a panel at the…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Trump’s Stellar Pick for National Security Adviser

    Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster is a perfect fit for the position of national security adviser, and it is no surprise that his selection by President Donald Trump has delighted many in the defense and national security community. Trump announced Monday night that McMaster will replace Michael Flynn, the retired Army general who resigned a…
    John Cooper
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    • News

    One Mom’s Fight for Her Special Needs Son in the Age of Obamacare

    For Marjorie Weer and her family, the Affordable Care Act has been both a blessing and a burden. The family of four, who live in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, qualifies for a tax credit, and without the financial assistance, their policy would cost more than $1,200 per month. But beyond the financial help, Weer’s experiences…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • Opinion

    Senate Democrats Hold Up Cabinet Nominee for Special Interest Bailout

    What does Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, have to do with pension and health care benefits for one group of retired coal miners? Nothing. But that hasn’t stopped congressional Democrats from holding up a necessary waiver on Lighthizer’s confirmation by insisting on attaching it to a completely unrelated bill that…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    After Michael Flynn’s Departure, How Trump Can Stabilize National Security Council, Avoid Leaks

    President Donald Trump’s first weeks as commander in chief have been challenged by upheaval within his National Security Council, the White House group tasked with coordinating and implementing foreign policy and counterterrorism strategy. The resignation of Michael Flynn as national security adviser—head of the National Security Council—comes at a time when acute foreign policy decisions…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Polls Showing Approval of Dodd-Frank Financial Agency Are Highly Misleading

    With President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans taking steps to undo Dodd-Frank financial regulations, one agency at the heart of Dodd-Frank has become the object of increased attention. That agency is known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was created by the Dodd-Frank law passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Those…
    Elizabeth Fender
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    • Opinion

    India’s Increased Naval Capacities Are Good for Regional Security

    A key American partner, India, is set to conduct another missile test that will have a wide range of consequences on regional dynamics for years to come. India’s new K-4 nuclear-capable, submarine-launched ballistic missile is expected to have a range of 3,500 kilometers, a serious improvement over its current operational missile of the same kind….
    James Di Pane
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    • Opinion

    Court Ruling Against Trump’s Executive Order Shows the Worst of Judicial Activism

    A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has repeated the mistakes made by the district court judge who stayed President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending visas from seven terrorist havens. Both the judge in Washington state and the San Francisco-based circuit court have now refused to recognize the authority of Congress…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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