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

    Why Kansas Conservatives Are Pushing Voters to Reshape the State’s Highest Court

    It’s typically a no-drama affair. Every six years, Kansans vote whether to retain the state’s sitting Supreme Court justices. The question is the last item on the ballot. In Kansas history, voters never have voted out a justice on the state’s highest court. But this year, the judicial elections in Kansas—known as retention elections—are especially…
    Josh Siegel
    Read More
    • Opinion

    DC City Council Votes to Allow Physician-Assisted Suicide. That’ll Change Us All, for the Worse.

    Earlier today, the D.C. City Council voted to allow physician-assisted suicide. But the debate isn’t over. The Washington Post reports that “the council must still hold a final vote on the bill, possibly as early as Nov. 15,” and that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, must decide if she’ll sign or veto the bill. The mayor…
    Ryan T. Anderson
    Read More
    • Opinion

    US Must Remain Vigilant to Counter Cyberattacks

    Dyn, a New Hampshire-based computer firm whose specialty is in providing the means to access websites through its servers, was brought offline by a sequence of large cyberattacks last Friday. This recent attack highlights the continued challenges that persist in cybersecurity and how the cyberthreat landscape is ever-changing. Dyn’s servers were compromised via a distributed…
    Riley Walters
    Read More
    • News

    What Recent Hacking Attack Reveals About Election Security

    A hacking attack last Friday that disrupted major U.S. websites is an example of a new era of cybersecurity vulnerability in today’s interconnected world. The Oct. 21 cyberattack also furthered anxiety about the integrity of next month’s election, which has already been fraught with controversy over voting rights, and foreign interference. While the attack alarmed—but…
    Josh Siegel
    Read More
    • News

    ‘Clear Bias’ Against Hiring Veterans Under Obama Administration, Says Former VA Official

    Veterans must be given preference in securing federal jobs, according to long-standing laws, but hiring hasn’t always worked out in their favor. A federal audit found that on numerous occasions, agencies placed Obama administration political appointees into career government jobs with civil service protections—bypassing veterans. Much of the federal bureaucracy has turned against men and…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    DNC’s ‘Honest Mistake’ Defense of Dumping Sewage Hasn’t Worked for Average Americans

    Dumping raw sewage into a storm drain is a federal crime that has landed some unaware Americans in prison. Someone aboard a bus chartered by the Democratic National Committee, which depicted the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, reportedly dumped sewage into a storm drain in Lawrenceville, Georgia. A DNC spokesperson described the sewage dump…
    John-Michael Seibler
    Read More
    • News

    Controversial Proposal for Nurses Could Expand Access to Care for Veterans

    For years, state and federal policymakers have discussed proposals to expand the role of advanced practice registered nurses, with major physician groups like the American Medical Association squaring off against nurse organizations like the American Nurses Association. But a proposed rule from the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and clinical…
    Melissa Quinn
    Read More
    • News

    Socialist, Refugee Advocate to Run UN for Next 5 Years

    While it’s hardly the election to get the most attention this year, the United Nations General Assembly has confirmed a nominee with a background in socialist politics and refugee matters to be the organization’s new secretary-general. The 193-member United Nations General Assembly approved Antonio Guterres, a socialist whom President Barack Obama called a man of…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • News

    Voters to Decide Legality of Physician-Assisted Suicide in Colorado

    Colorado could become the sixth state to make physician-assisted suicide legal when voters go the polls next month. “Doctor-assisted suicide is sold as a personal decision to end suffering at the end of a person’s life,” @jeffhunt says. Called Proposition 106, the ballot question in Colorado would allow a “terminally ill individual” to request and…
    Rachel del Guidice
    Read More
    • Opinion

    What the US Needs to Do About Russia’s Cyberattacks

    The U.S. finally is ramping up its response to Russian cyberattacks. Good. The bad news is our response shows how ill thought-out both our strategy toward Russia and our policies for retaliating against malicious cyber operations are. Russia has been linked to many cyber incidents, most notably the hack of the Democratic National Committee and…
    Ginny Montalbano
    Read More
    • News

    Think the First Amendment Protects Books and Movies? Government Officials Don’t Agree

    Books, movies, satellite radio shows, and streaming video about real-life politics aren’t protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press, some government officials argue. The Federal Election Commission hasn’t proposed banning books or movies, but in a 3-3 vote last month along party lines, the six-member panel left the regulatory option on the…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Expedited Cargo Screening a Boon to Shippers and Security

    The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency has recently expanded its expedited clearance program for oceangoing freight, the Advanced Qualified Unloading Approval (AQUA Lane) program.  This expansion should allow for Customs and Border Patrol to focus resources on more high-risk cargo, while allowing a faster turnover rate at ports. AQUA allows qualified shipping lines…
    Riley Walters
    Read More
    • News

    How Obama Political Aides Get Preference Over Veterans for Government Jobs

    A disabled veteran didn’t get a job he sought in a federal agency, although he was qualified for the position and was supposed to receive preference. The job went instead to a political appointee of the Obama administration. “Hiring decisions must be free from political interference, legitimate, and justified,” @jasoninthehouse says. This was just one instance in which a…
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Time to Reform Social Security Benefits That Most Don’t Understand

    Social Security’s benefit structure is so complex that few Americans understand it. There’s a simpler way to provide benefits that also would help to improve the program’s worsening finances. Most Americans don’t understand the rules and details that affect their monthly Social Security retirement benefits, according to a Government Accountability Office report based on data…
    Lauren Bowman
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Court Ruling Reins in Unaccountable Financial Regulation Agency

    The very first line of today’s court ruling in PHH Corporation v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) states: “This is a case about executive power and individual liberty.” Today, for once, liberty won in a big way. It would be hard to overstate the importance of the decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
    Diane Katz
    Read More
    • News

    7 Big Judicial Setbacks to Obama’s Executive Overreach

    Much of President Barack Obama’s executive action legacy will be decided by the courts after he leaves office, but he had a rough judicial record while serving. Though Obama has frequently touted his pen and phone policymaking, these actions on immigration, environmental policy, and presidential appointees have often been swatted away by the Supreme Court….
    Fred Lucas
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Projections Differ, but Social Security Is in Deep Trouble

    Millions of Americans depend on Social Security, and the government program is going broke. If Congress doesn’t take action to reform the nation’s largest entitlement program, its looming insolvency likely will lead to large benefit cuts along with large payroll tax increases. The Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Trustees each year report on long-term…
    Lauren Bowman
    Read More
    • News

    No Budget? This Senator Says That Should Mean Pay Cuts for Politicians, Staff

    After less than two years in Congress, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., thinks he’s figured out what’s needed to fix the cumbersome way lawmakers fund the federal government: teeth. More specifically, the freshman senator from Georgia wants members of both the Senate and the House and their staff to suffer “severe consequences” if Congress fails to…
    Philip Wegmann
    Read More
    • Opinion

    5 Statements From Top Military Brass That Should Concern You

    Four of America’s top military officers recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on long-term budget challenges facing the military. While the hearing didn’t grab many headlines, some of the statements from these leaders should make all Americans concerned about the status of our military. Ultimately, these four officers (the chiefs of staff of…
    Andrew Santora
    Read More
    • Opinion

    How a President’s Bad Judicial Appointments Threaten Your Liberty

    When Americans cast their ballots for the next president this November, they will not only select the next commander in chief and primary enforcer of the law, they will help select a new Supreme Court justice and countless other lower court judges. Selecting judges is not an ancillary responsibility—it is a central and critical duty,…
    Tiffany Bates
    Read More