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

    The Popular Narrative About Financial Deregulation Is Wrong

    Americans are being fed a false narrative. As the story goes, in 1999, Congress repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. The financial sector was free from the watchful eye of federal regulators. Then in 2000, Congress deregulated derivatives, and all of this deregulation resulted in the financial mess known as the Great Recession of 2008. That’s…
    Norbert Michel
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    • Opinion

    Let’s Roll: Why Standing Up to a Terrorist Is Your Best Self-Defense

    After the carnage like we’ve witnessed in American cities such as San Bernardino and Orlando, and more recently in Europe, the national conversation tends to shift temporarily back toward gun control legislation and how to best protect ourselves in the homeland from future terrorist attacks. On 9/11, Todd Beamer’s simple “Let’s roll” directive inspired his…
    Glen Butler
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    • Opinion

    If the Obama Administration Adopts a ‘No First Use’ Nuclear Strategy, It Could Cripple US Security

    The White House has declared that it may be revising United States nuclear policy during President Barack Obama’s final months in office. A “no first use” policy would be a disaster for the U.S. and its allies. The Obama administration’s consideration of the no first use policy is based on a lack of humility before…
    Michaela Dodge
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    • News

    I Asked Bernie Sanders Supporters If They Identified as Socialists. Here’s What They Said.

    PHILADELPHIA—Turns out, Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters refer to communism more than a Fox News guest or conservative confab speaker. Or at least they do when you ask them if they identify as socialists. On Monday night and Tuesday, I chatted with around 10 Sanders supporters, both at the Wells Fargo Center, where all the prime-time speeches…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • Opinion

    This Government Agency’s Cover-Up May Have Hindered US Cybersecurity

    The Chinese government may have hacked into computers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on multiple occasions between 2010 and 2013, according to a congressional report. The report describes various instances of in which current or former FDIC employees inadvertently downloaded sensitive data to portable storage devices, which were later removed from the office. Rep. Lamar…
    Alton Martin
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    • Opinion

    Why the Save Our Social Security Act Would Hurt the Economy and Drive Down Other Tax Revenues

    Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., recently introduced the Save Our Social Security (S.O.S.) Act, which includes some practicable and commonsense solutions such as raising the retirement age and using a more accurate inflation measure. Unfortunately, the S.O.S. Act’s faults significantly outweigh its merits. The bill’s most harmful provision is a significant increase in Social Security’s payroll…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • Opinion

    After Obama: Restoring Freedom, Opportunity, and Security With a ‘Blueprint for Reform’

    An upstart businessman wants to get ahead in society but can’t because of bureaucratic regulations. A talented college graduate can’t find a job as a result of a stagnant economy. A nation’s citizens feel threatened by terrorist attacks at home and abroad as elected officials reduce military spending. A government continues to burden the next…
    Matthew Hoke
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    • News

    Despite Efforts From LGBT Group, GOP Platform Retains Social Conservative Tenets

    CLEVELAND—A dramatic effort to change the GOP’s stance on LGBT issues ended with a whimper Monday as the Republican National Convention kicked off officially. The document, adopted Monday on the floor of Quicken Loans Arena, codifies the traditional definition of marriage and denounces the administration’s school bathroom directive. “It’s the most conservative platform we’ve ever…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • News

    Widow Pursues Husband’s Dream of a Special Dog to Help Their Daughter

    Glenn Foden had a dream for his daughter, Hannah. He saw Hannah having a canine companion to help her maneuver through her struggles with autism. Foden, an editorial cartoonist for The Daily Signal and other news organizations, began to save for a service dog. But when the conservative cartoonist died unexpectedly in March at age…
    Faith Vander Voort
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    • News

    France Is at War, Officials Say After Terrorist Attack in Nice Kills at Least 84

    KYIV, Ukraine—At 3:45 a.m. Friday, just hours after a man drove a large truck through a crowd in the French seaside town of Nice, killing at least 84, French President François Hollande made a televised address to the nation. He began by making it clear the attack at the close of Bastille Day, France's Independence Day,…
    Nolan Peterson
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    • News

    How the GOP Senate Is Boosting Obama’s Judicial Legacy

    Republican senators consistently accuse President Barack Obama of refusing to follow the law and exceeding his constitutional powers. Yet they’ve been unwilling to draw the line when it comes to giving Obama’s judicial nominees lifetime appointments to the federal bench. So far in 2016, the Republican-led Senate has confirmed nine Obama judges. And that number…
    Robert B. Bluey
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    • Opinion

    Debunking 6 Myths About the First Amendment Defense Act

    The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing Tuesday on one of the most important pieces of religious liberty legislation before Congress in years: the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho. Several Democratic House members and their invited witnesses made some stunning claims…
    Roger Severino
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    • Opinion

    5 Reasons the US Military Is in Trouble

    At a time when threats against America are growing, the U.S. military is facing a combat readiness crisis that jeopardizes its ability to protect the country. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, discussed this problem recently at The Heritage Foundation. Thornberry explained that this readiness shortfall has occurred as a result of “budget cuts…
    Justin Johnson
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    • News

    Social Conservatives Declare Victory on Bathrooms, Marriage in GOP Platform

    CLEVELAND—After fending off attempts to change the Republican Party’s official position on LGBT issues and traditional marriage, a coalition of social conservatives cautiously celebrated an early victory Monday afternoon. Before the Grand Old Party picks its presidential nominee formally, a select set of delegates on the platform committee will spend the week staking out Republican…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • Opinion

    Thank TSA Mismanagement for Airport Wait Line Fiasco

    Missed flights, long waits, and frustration boiling over: the summer travel season is upon us and the American people are fed up with one of the worst travel periods in recent memory. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and the head of the Transportation Security Administration, Peter Neffenger, are pleading for help from Congress—and…
    Rep. Scott Perry
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    • Opinion

    5 Things You Need to Know About the Defense Department’s New Gender Identity Policy

    Last week, the Department of Defense ended its recognition of service members’ biology and supplanted it with a radical ideology pushed by the Obama administration. As other commentators pointed out recently (here and here), there is no military justification for this move. According to a study the Department of Defense commissioned, personnel who consider themselves transgender currently…
    Daniel Briggs
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    • Opinion

    Booker T. Washington and the Promise of Racial Reconciliation

    We are all trying to recalibrate our praise and blame of Americans once revered as “great.” Yale University is rightly conflicted over John C. Calhoun, and the state of Maryland is rightly conflicted over Roger B. Taney. Given the major role these two men played in hardening pro-slavery sentiment and hastening the Civil War, I…
    Diana Schaub
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    • Opinion

    Pentagon’s Transgender Policy Defies Common Sense

    On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the U.S. military is dropping its policy of treating male and female troops according to their biology—to be replaced by a policy based on a radical new gender ideology. This change was not precipitated by military needs but by political correctness. After all, the military is not stretched…
    Roger Severino
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    • Opinion

    NATO Designates Cyber as Official Domain for Warfare

    While the claim that hackers linked to the Russian government hacked the Democratic National Committee to steal research on GOP candidates certainly grabbed headlines, a more important story on cyberspace was unfolding in Brussels. In a press conference on June 14, NATO Allied ministers formally agreed to include cyber operations in its war domain along…
    Anna Ferrara
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    • Opinion

    Social Security Programs Face Depletion in Near Future

    Social Security’s programs are in deep trouble. According to the just-released 2016 report of the Board of Trustees for the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, both programs’ trust funds will be depleted in the near future—old-age and survivors insurance in 2035 and disability insurance in 2023. Trust Fund Depletion Should Congress…
    Romina Boccia
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