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

    Why We Need a National Security Transition Plan for the Next Administration

    In one year, a new president will move into the White House and be greeted with the consequences of President Barack Obama’s failed national security policies. To confront the likely chaos, the president must be armed with strategies and flanked by advisers who will enable the president to lead on day one. Though the first vote…
    Daniel Kaniewski
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    • News

    Kansas Governor to End State Planned Parenthood Funding

    Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced he intends to terminate state Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Kansas will be joining seven other states that have taken action to prevent the nation’s largest abortion provider from receiving taxpayer dollars. “Ensuring the health and safety of Kansans means protecting all Kansans at every stage of life,” Brownback, a…
    Mariana Barillas
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    • News

    Obama Judicial Nominee Who Accused Reagan of ‘Bigotry’ Faces Confirmation Vote

    President Obama’s nominee for a federal judgeship in Minnesota accused the Reagan administration of “bigotry” in her writing for the prestigious UCLA Law Review in 1989. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina Wright, who is expected to win Senate confirmation to federal District Court in her state next Tuesday, wrote the accusation shortly before graduating Harvard Law…
    Philip Wegmann
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    • Opinion

    5 National Security Problems You Won’t Hear From Obama’s State of the Union

    President Barack Obama’s last State of the Union address will address a range of topics, and almost certainly include foreign policy and national security in some fashion. Unfortunately, the president seems set in his misguided ways on national defense. Here are five things that Obama should say in his State of the Union address, but…
    Justin Johnson
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    • News

    IRS Won’t Ask Nonprofits to Collect Social Security Numbers

    On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department withdrew a proposal that would give nonprofits the option of collecting personal information, including the Social Security numbers, from its donors. A critic called the government’s decision to abandon the proposed rule “a huge victory for American democracy.” “This is a huge victory for American…
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • Opinion

    Was This Top North Korean Official Assassinated?

    North Korea announced Wednesday that its most senior official in charge of inter-Korean relations died in a car accident. Kim Yang-gon was head of the United Front Department of the ruling Korea Workers’ Party, a member of the North Korean Central Committee and alternate member of the Politburo. He had most recently negotiated with senior South…
    Bruce Klingner
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    • Opinion

    Most Senior Citizens Haven’t Fully Paid for Their Medicare, Social Security Benefits

    Have senior citizens really “paid for” the Medicare and Social Security benefits they enjoy in retirement?  Many believe so. But for the vast majority, the answer is – unequivocally- No. Federal entitlement payroll taxes and general revenues finance Medicare and Social Security benefits on a “pay–as-you-go” basis, meaning today’s workers’ taxes fund today’s retirees. Workers’…
    Robert Moffit
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    • News

    After Racial Incidents, Ithaca Students, Faculty Express ‘No Confidence’ in College President

    Weeks after the University of Missouri’s president resigned in the wake of protests following racially charged events, the faculty and staff at New York’s Ithaca College have expressed no confidence in its own president because of his response to a handful of race-related incidents. The faculty at Ithaca College on Monday cast overwhelming votes of…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • Opinion

    Local Officials Advocating Sanctuary Policies Put Illegal Criminals Ahead of Americans

    San Francisco and other cities across the United States have created so-called “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens. These municipalities are defying federal immigration law, just like some Southern jurisdictions that defied federal civil rights laws in the 1960s. But unlike that earlier era, today’s sanctuary cities are creating safe havens for known criminals. Their policies have…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • Opinion

    Cartoon: Einstein’s Theory of Insanity

    Mike Gonzalez wrote earlier this week on the president's national address: At his national address Sunday night, President Barack Obama lectured Americans at length on the evils of Islamophobia. That is a lofty sentiment, no doubt, but the harangue did strike many as disproportionate. After all, on this score Americans can already be rightly proud….
    Glenn Foden
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    • News

    Is the ‘Fiancé Visa’ a Security Risk? A Look at Screening Procedures for Visa Used by San Bernardino Terrorist

    In a time of anxiety over border security, the so-called fiancé visa is one avenue into the United States that has generated little attention. But the normally low-drama visa that facilitates marriage is now under scrutiny after it became known that one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack used the visa to…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    After Hearing Oral Arguments, Legal Expert Thinks Abigail Fisher Should Win in Racial Discrimation Case

    The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in what is likely to be one of the most controversial cases of the current term: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. At issue is whether universities should be allowed to use racial preferences in their admissions programs. It’s the second time this case has made its way…
    Genevieve Wood
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    • Opinion

    Supreme Court Hears Case on Racial Preferences in College Admissions. Again.

    It was “déjà vu all over again” as Yogi Berra would have said, at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, with protesters outside the court and race agitators like Al Sharpton leading the crowd, as the justices heard the case of Abigail Fisher for a second time. Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Fisher’s…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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    • Opinion

    Sending Special Forces Into Iraq Without a Strategy to Defeat ISIS Is Irresponsible

    Last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the U.S. will send between 100 and 150 special operations forces to Iraq to conduct targeted ground raids against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. The announcement follows closely on the heels of President Obama’s October decision to send approximately 50 special operations forces to Syria. While…
    Rachel Zissimos
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    • Opinion

    How to Combat Cyber-Attacks in the 21st Century

    The barrage of cyber-attacks against U.S. companies continued in 2015. Some were spectacularly successful, costing the victimized companies—as well as their workers and customers—millions. Americans can expect more of the same in 2016. The bad guys still want to steal commercial secrets, as well as your Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, financial records,…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Leading Muslim Voice Speaks Out Against Islamic Extremism

    In the aftermath of the massacre in Paris and the shooting this week in San Bernardino, Calif., the debate over the threat of Islamic terrorism is again front and center. Many political leaders, including President Barack Obama, refuse to make the connection between the terrorist acts of groups like ISIS and the religion of Islam….
    Genevieve Wood
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    • News

    The IRS Wants Organizations to Collect Donors’ Social Security Numbers. This Tea Party Group Is Fighting Back.

    A Tea Party organization is mobilizing its supporters nationwide in an attempt to stymie a proposed regulation from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the disclosures of donor information. Tea Party Patriots is launching an email and social media campaign—using #IRSPowerGrab—today, encouraging supporters and conservative leaders nationwide to push back against a rule proposed by the…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • Opinion

    What Acquistion Reform for the Pentagon Should Look Like

    Not since the heady days of the “revolution in military affairs” over a decade ago has reforming the Pentagon been such a central focus of Washington musings. Recently, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., kicked off a series of hearings looking at the roles and missions of the armed forces with an eye toward reducing…
    James Carafano
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    • Opinion

    Energy and Security in Japan

    In October, a delegation of researchers from The Heritage Foundation had the opportunity to travel to Japan for a week. It is clear from their time there that Japan has a keen interest in increasing its energy diversity and making sure that experts are knowledgeable about the security changes and challenges in the region. Through…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    EMP Attack Should Be a Larger National Security Concern

    Many Americans have never heard of EMP (which is short for electromagnetic pulse), much less would they consider it a national security issue worth worrying about. Unfortunately, an EMP attack poses a threat that is both real and also quite serious. An electromagnetic pulse within the United States could cause serious harm to our nation’s…
    David Poortinga
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