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

    This Plan for Streamlining Oversight Would Enhance Homeland Security

    Key government officials are ready to reform congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, something that is long overdue. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has suggested in recent days that he would like to streamline that oversight. While it may sound strange, the homeland security committees in the…
    Ginny Montalbano
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    • News

    Judiciary Committee Set to Audit Top IRS Tax Agent

    A last-minute deal between House conservatives and Republican leadership delayed a floor vote to impeach the head of the IRS last week. But the top taxman isn’t in the clear just yet. For the first time, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will come under oath to plead his case, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • News

    7 Weeks Before Election, Republicans Help Advance Another Obama Judicial Nominee

    As President Barack Obama’s time in office nears its end, the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced another one of his judicial nominees toward a lifetime post. She may not get to the finish line, though. While the Senate has entered that part of the political calendar when confirmations traditionally halt, the Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • News

    House Judiciary Committee to Hold Impeachment Proceedings for IRS Commissioner

    Conservatives who belong to the House Freedom Caucus are trying to corner any Republicans thinking twice about impeaching the head of the Internal Revenue Service. They’ve framed the debate as a strict binary, telling fellow members of the GOP that they either can be with conservatives or with the IRS. Members of the Freedom Caucus took their…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • Opinion

    What a No First Use Policy Would Mean for Global Security

    As the clock is ticking, President Barack Obama is striving to cement his legacy in the realm of nuclear weapons policy. In the past, the president has suggested his nuclear policy goal would be a “no first use” policy—a plan many experts as well as U.S. allies continue to meet with skepticism and resistance. While…
    Michaela Dodge
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    • News

    Votes of Thousands Who Haven’t Proven Citizenship Could ‘Swing’ Kansas Elections

    With the presidential election two months away, a Kansas law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship remains in legal limbo. Late last month, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate a provision of a law requiring Kansans to prove their citizenship when registering to vote while obtaining driver's…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    ‘Socialism of the 21st Century’ Collapses in Brazil. Here’s Why It Failed.

    With the Senate impeachment vote to remove from office former President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilians joined a lengthening line of Latin Americans who have soured on the populist, corrupting, and impoverishing policies of “21st Century Socialism.” Faced with its disastrous consequences, people in some neighboring countries had already turned the page and moved on. Argentina wised…
    James M. Roberts
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    • Opinion

    4 Reasons the Pentagon Shouldn’t Play ‘Hardball’ With This Funding Gimmick

    This week, Politico broke the story of a memo from senior Pentagon officials to the secretary of defense laying out how the Pentagon could “play hardball” against a funding gimmick included in the House defense policy and funding bills. The gimmick in both bills involves only funding overseas operations (in Afghanistan and elsewhere) for part of…
    Justin Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Extreme Position of Pro-Choice Politicians Contradicts American Consensus

    Lurking behind the annual split among Americans over the labels “pro-life” and “pro-choice” is a new reality. The fact is that today, whatever label they choose, Americans overwhelmingly support abortion restrictions. Pro-choice politicians who typically support unrestricted, or almost unrestricted, abortion share the extreme view of a tiny minority of the American people. Consider this….
    Carl Anderson
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    • Opinion

    Why Politicians and Taxes Can’t Save Taxis From Extinction

    Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft again made headlines this week. In Pittsburgh, Uber announced plans to begin the world’s first self-driving vehicle pilot program. Meanwhile, in the incorrigible liberal bastion of Massachusetts, taxi-friendly lawmakers passed a first-of-its-kind rideshare tax that will transfer profits from successful ride-hailing companies to the foundering taxis they are putting…
    Jason Snead
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    • Opinion

    Government by Special Interests Is the Problem, Not the Solution

    “Bring back the special interests!” A version of this plea is heard more and more these days from those worried about the current state of our politics. It is the implicit theme of a recent Atlantic cover story, provocatively titled “How American Politics Went Insane.” The author, Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Rauch, asserts that the…
    James Wallner
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    • Opinion

    Another Travel Fiasco Courtesy of the TSA

    I have long been a believer that, in most cases, a private company will do a more effective and efficient job than any government agency charged with the same task. My recent travel experience solidified that belief. It all started out with a half-empty water bottle at Ronald Reagan National Airport just outside the District…
    Genevieve Wood
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    • News

    Security Officials Consider National Hacking of Voting Machines Extremely Unlikely. Here’s Why.

    Successful computer hacks at major federal agencies, large corporations, and the Democratic National Committee have sparked concern that clever infiltrators from outside the country might attempt to tinker with the 2016 election results. The Department of Homeland Security asserts there is no credible cyberthreat to the 2016 election results, and state election officials and other…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    US ‘No First Use’ Pledge Would Degrade Allied Defense

    In the waning days of his tenure, President Barack Obama is reportedly contemplating declaring a “no first use” pledge for U.S. nuclear weapons. Such a policy decision, a dramatic reversal of America’s post-World War II security strategy, would be another step toward Obama’s utopian vision of global nuclear disarmament. U.S. allies rely on America’s extended…
    Bruce Klingner
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    • Opinion

    DEA Targets Innocent Americans, Accessing Travel Data to Seize Cash via Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws

    Well-meaning laws designed to nab high-level criminals have been twisted to siphon off money from law-abiding American citizens. The latest abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws involves air and rail travelers being targeted and fleeced by a federal agency. The Drug Enforcement Administration is pulling Americans’ travel data en masse from airline and Amtrak records,…
    Jason Snead
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    • Opinion

    The Heritage Foundation Stands for Freedom, Not Special Interests

    This week, The New York Times ran a two-part, two-day piece on its front page titled, “How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence.” It tried to indict multiple think tanks as pawns of corporate America and other special interests. That The Heritage Foundation was not included in this indictment is no surprise to me, nor the hundreds of men and women here whose…
    Jim DeMint
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    • Opinion

    Atlantic Hurricane Season Heating Up: Time to Reform FEMA

    Five named storms have already formed in 2016, with Hurricane Earl making landfall last Thursday in Belize. Massive thunderstorms caused extensive damage and death tolls have risen to over 40 people. With September usually a peak month of tropical activity, it is crucial that the U.S. promptly delivers disaster relief when and where it is…
    Anna Ferrara
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    • Opinion

    What Can Racial Discrimination Explain?

    A guiding principle for physicians is primum non nocere, the Latin expression for “first, do no harm.” In order not to do harm, whether it’s with medicine or with public policy, the first order of business is accurate diagnostics. Racial discrimination is seen as the cause of many problems of black Americans. No one argues…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • Opinion

    Finally, a Proposal to Help Disability Beneficiaries Return to Work

    A plan to ensure disability insurance isn’t abused has been introduced in Congress. The program could save taxpayers a substantial amount of money and maintain the proper level of funding for the truly needy. The Social Security Disability Insurance program is intended to provide financial assistance for Americans with a work history that have experienced…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    The TSA Can Ruin Your Summer Vacation: Here’s How It Should Be Fixed

    For anyone planning to fly this summer, there’s a good chance you will spend time waiting in a massive line. An estimated 231.1 million travelers are expected to fly U.S. airlines this summer, a 4 percent increase from last year’s high. Earlier this year, thousands of travelers missed flights after waiting more than three hours at…
    Anna Ferrara
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