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

    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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  • opinion

    Incoming Pentagon Appointee Strongly Supports Base Realignment and Closure
    A new Pentagon appointee is vowing to push for reform within the Department of Defense that reduces long-term costs and closes excess infrastructure. During his July 18 nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to become the assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations, and environment, Lucian Niemeyer expressed strong support for congressional authorization…
    Andrew Nagode | Frederico Bartels
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  • opinion

    We Hear You: Facing the Opioid Crisis and Defending the Marriage Views of Farmers
    Editor's note: We were pretty jazzed to publish a commentary on the opioid crisis by William Bennett and Robert DuPont. We've been meaning to run some of your reactions, so let's begin with them, followed by more on the farmers banned from a farmers market . Be sure to write us at [email protected]—Ken McIntyre Dear…
    Ken McIntyre
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  • opinion

    5 Good Reasons Why Transgender Accommodations Aren’t Compatible With Military Realities
    On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that he was reversing an Obama-era policy that opened the military to people who identify as transgender. That policy, announced during the last year of President Barack Obama’s second term, was scheduled to go into effect earlier this month, but Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced a six-month delay…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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  • news

    House IT Aide’s Lawyer Is Longtime Clinton Associate
    Chris Gowen, Imran Awan’s lawyer, is a longtime campaigner for former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a member of an attorney team that brought a fraudulent lawsuit against energy giant Chevron Corp. Pakistani-born Imran was arrested late Monday at Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia before he could board a…
    Mark Tapscott
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  • opinion

    Corrupt Mexican Officials Are to Blame for Illegal Human Smuggling Racket
    Florida truck driver James Matthew Bradley isn’t the mastermind of the human smuggling ring that led to the grisly deaths of 10 illegal immigrants in his rig, which authorities found at a San Antonio Walmart over the weekend. He’s just a cog in the machine. Bradley may now face the death penalty for transporting up…
    Michelle Malkin
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  • news

    House Conservatives Try Again to Block Funding for Transgender Treatments in Military
    Some House Republicans are taking another shot at blocking funding for gender transition surgeries in the military, projected to cost about $3.7 billion over the next decade. “We are $20 trillion in debt and the taxpayers … are projected to spend $3.7 billion in the next 10 years for sex-reassignment surgeries,” @RepScottPerry says. Earlier this…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    It Is Past Time to Privatize the TSA
    In a recent test at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, the Transportation Security Administration failed to detect 94 percent of illicit items that actors smuggled through security screening that included fake explosives, weapons, and drugs. This egregious performance comes at the same time that the Department of Homeland Security is requiring international airports around the world…
    Max Morrison | David Inserra
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  • news

    Texas Officials Say Human Smuggling Deaths Show Need for Anti-Sanctuary Law
    The discovery of nine dead bodies and more than 30 injured people inside a sweltering tractor trailer in San Antonio shows that a tough anti-sanctuary city law is needed more than ever, top Texas officials said Sunday. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote on Facebook that sanctuary cities “entice” people to come to the U.S. illegally and place…
    Will Racke
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  • opinion

    Defense Authorization Bills Advance US Missile Defense and Nuclear Weapons Priorities
    Congress is currently deliberating the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018. The NDAA is an important tool for Congress as it offers it an opportunity to influence defense policy, as well as indicate its wishes with regard to armed forces and defense programs. How do the two versions of the NDAA measure up…
    Michaela Dodge | Thomas Spoehr
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  • opinion

    House’s Refusal to Reassess Military Bases Will Lead to Unnecessary Costs
    In passing its version of the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the House of Representatives shot down the Pentagon’s plans to make more efficient use of its resources by reassessing military bases. The legislative body decided to maintain the prohibition on conducting a new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), even though…
    Frederico Bartels
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  • opinion

    This Official Had the Spine to Stand Up to the Powerful CFPB. Congress Should Follow His Lead.
    Three cheers for Keith Noreika, the acting comptroller of the currency, for having the chutzpah to challenge the regulatory deceit of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its director, Richard Cordray. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Noreika on Monday took the unusual (and commendable) step of calling for delay of the bureau’s new and…
    Diane Katz
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  • opinion

    Harvard’s Proposed Policy Would Punish Students for Having Normal Social Lives
    For the second time in less than two years, Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana is expanding paternalistic restrictions and sanctions on the student body based on whom they choose to be friends with. In an email to the student body on July 12, the dean reported that the “USGSO Committee”—which handles policy on “unrecognized single-gender…
    Emily Hall
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  • opinion

    Social Security Reform Is Urgent and Necessary
    Late in the afternoon on Thursday last week, the Social Security Administration released its annual trustees’ report. As is often the case when government entities have bad news to report, they do so on a schedule that makes it easier to bury the information. The American people need to know the state of finances of…
    Romina Boccia
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  • opinion

    To Maximize Defense Funds, Congress Should Look at Closing and Realigning Military Bases
    Leaders in the business world often have to make painful decisions in order to meet long-term strategic goals and keep up with market trends. For example, Sears Holdings announced earlier this year that it plans to close 150 unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores. If Sears Holdings attempted to keep these stores open, it would damage…
    Andrew Nagode | Frederico Bartels
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  • news

    You’re Fired: Trump’s VA Terminates 548, Suspends 200 for Misconduct
    Five hundred and forty-eight Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been terminated since President Donald Trump took office, indicating that his campaign pledge to clean up “probably the most incompetently run agency in the United States” by relentlessly putting his TV catchphrase “you’re fired” into action was more than just empty rhetoric. Another 200 VA workers were suspended…
    Luke Rosiak
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