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

    2 Democrat Senators Show Hostility to Religion in Questions for Judicial Nominee
    “Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?” is an unusual and inappropriate question for a senator to ask a judicial nominee. In fact, the Constitution forbids it. But that didn’t stop Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., from probing Notre Dame Law professor Amy Coney Barrett about her faith. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. D-Calif., also chided Barrett for…
    Tiffany Bates
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  • opinion

    Trump Can Aid the Irma Relief Effort by Issuing Special Waiver
    As Hurricane Irma bears down on Puerto Rico, home to 3.4 million U.S. citizens, President Donald Trump should prepare the way for a rapid relief and rebuilding effort by issuing an emergency waiver of the Jones Act. The Jones Act (formally the Merchant Marine Act of 1920) requires that all shipping between U.S. ports be…
    Salim Furth
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  • news

    Florida Democrat Election Official Admits Noncitizens, Felons Voting
    A veteran Democrat chief election official in Florida has conceded in court that noncitizens and felons possibly voted, in a case that could have national implications for how localities clean up voter rolls. Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes is defending her office against a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Rights Union, a conservative…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    Conservatives Push for Democrats to Stop Obstructing Trump Judicial Nominees
    Conservatives are launching a campaign to put pressure on Democrats and counter what they view as the obstruction of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. “This is an issue that has energized the American people in a unique way last November,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, told The Daily…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • news

    CIA Veteran Sees Russian Connection to 2 Groups Opposing Fracking, Pipelines
    Some environmental activists who pressure politicians to halt production of natural gas are acting as “agents of influence” on behalf of the Kremlin and Russian energy interests, according to a retired CIA officer’s analysis of the money trail. “We cannot allow foreign interests to deliberately manipulate our energy industry,” Rep. @LamarSmithTX21 says. As they lead…
    Kevin Mooney
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  • opinion

    The Growing Racial Divide Within Black Lives Matter
    After the events in Charlottesville and Boston of recent days, expect Black Lives Matter to be both energized as a movement and for the broader left to double down on race as a means to achieving radical social upheaval. Yet even as the movement regains steam with a focus on the physical dismantling of statues…
    Anne Sorock
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  • news

    Why Patricia Heaton Is a Problem for Feminists
    Every week, The Daily Signal’s Facebook show, “Problematic Women,” highlights strong conservative women, current events, and the hypocrisy of the “feminist” left. On this week’s episode, the mainstream media can’t stop talking about President Donald Trump’s response to Charlottesville and Iceland is eliminating Down syndrome—not through medicine, but through abortion. We also address actress Patricia…
    Daily Signal Staff
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  • news

    Alabama Special Election GOP Primary Goes to September Runoff
    Two Republicans, Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, will compete in a runoff election in September after failing to garner 50 percent of the vote in Alabama’s special election to fill the seat of now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The winner of the GOP runoff, which will be Sept. 26, will…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • news

    Obama Holdovers Still in Key National Security Council Jobs
    Several Obama holdovers who led initiatives at odds with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy remain on the staff of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned. About 40 of the National Security Council’s 250 officials—nearly 1 in 6—are Obama administration holdovers, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation's…
    Richard Pollock | Ethan Barton
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  • news

    Underreported: Meet 2 Political Prisoners From Socialist Venezuela
    In recent months, Venezuela has spiraled into a full-blown humanitarian and political crisis. Politicians with criminal backgrounds run the country, employing violence and arresting peaceful, anti-government protesters. In The Daily Signal’s feature series, “Underreported,” we interview Francisco Marquez, an ex-political prisoner who now lives in the United States, and Wuilly Arteaga, who recently was thrown…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    Venezuela’s Socialist Leader Asks for UN Meeting With Trump as His Nation Crumbles
    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he is ready to meet with President Donald Trump, just days after Washington hit the ruling socialist regime with sanctions. Speaking Thursday to the newly installed National Constituent Assembly, an all-powerful legislative body packed with Maduro loyalists, the socialist leader called on Venezuela’s foreign minister to arrange a phone call or face-to-face…
    Will Racke
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  • opinion

    McCain-Reed Proposal Would Help Reform the Military’s Infrastructure. Here’s Where It Still Needs Improvement.
    For the past 12 years, Congress has resisted calls from the Department of Defense to authorize another round of base realignment and closures. A new round is needed and is the best way for the Pentagon to objectively evaluate its infrastructure and shed capacity it no longer needs. Base realignment and closures have emerged as…
    Andrew Nagode | Frederico Bartels
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  • opinion

    Why FEMA Must Be Reformed Before Disaster Strikes
    As Tropical Storm Franklin prepares to make landfall in Mexico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is preparing to respond to similar situations that impact the United States. FEMA is tasked with leading the response to these devastating disasters, but since the 1980s, its involvement in small, local disasters has been on the increase. This…
    Max Morrison | David Inserra
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  • news

    Trump Hasn’t ‘Given Any Thought’ to Firing Special Counsel in Russia Probe
    President Donald Trump said he doesn’t intend to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign “I haven’t given it any thought. Well, I’ve been reading about it from you people,” Trump said Thursday during an impromptu press conference…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Defense Conference Underscores the Importance of Research and Development for Missile Defense
    While North Korea reportedly achieved another milestone in developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. homeland, The Heritage Foundation visited the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, a city that lives and breathes ballistic missile defense. The conference is a gathering for policy experts, the military, industry representatives, on…
    Michaela Dodge
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  • opinion

    These Special Appointees Often Undermine US Foreign Policy Goals. Here’s How to Fix the Problem.
    There’s an age-old rule of family gatherings that still holds true today: Stay out of grandma’s way in the kitchen. She has a meal to prepare and knows exactly what she’s doing, and how to do it. Too many cooks causes inefficiency, miscommunication, and a confusion of leadership roles. This “too many cooks” problem applies…
    Ben Roper
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  • opinion

    I Was a Transgender Soldier. Gender Dysphoria Poses Real Problems for the Military.
    As a transgender military veteran, an Army retiree, and the first person in the United States to have their sex legally declared as nonbinary, I have a vested interest in the outcome of the transgender military service ban. In the days when transgender military service was banned, I spent 18 years of torment fearing that…
    James Shupe
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  • opinion

    Continued US Leadership Requires Military Reinvestment
    The current House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act both seek welcome increases in the Pentagon’s defense budget. Unfortunately, the law of the land is the Budget Control Act and the limits and consequences imposed by it. This means that in 2018, the defense budget is legally limited to $551 billion. Any…
    Andrew Nagode | Frederico Bartels
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  • opinion

    Our Mission in Afghanistan Is Not About Nation Building. It’s About Self-Defense.
    As President Donald Trump contemplates the next steps for the U.S. in Afghanistan, it is time to inject a dose of realism into what the U.S. mission is there and what America’s goals should be. For too long, many of our policymakers have explained the U.S. mission in Afghanistan in terms of nation building or…
    Kim Holmes
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  • opinion

    Socialism Has Destroyed Venezuela
    Friedrich Hayek famously observed that socialist central planning puts countries on the road to serfdom. The latest dead end on that highway to hell—already littered with the human victims of past failed attempts in places like Cuba and the old Soviet Union—is in Caracas, Venezuela. That is where, last weekend, President Nicolás Maduro and the…
    James M. Roberts
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