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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  • news

    It’s Really Hard to Fire a VA Employee. This Bill Would Change That.
    Veterans groups are backing a Republican bill to make it easier to fire bad employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate despite cases of employees who kept their jobs after misconduct, including a worker who committed armed robbery and a nurse who was intoxicated during a surgical…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    We Can’t Bail Out Social Security Disability Insurance Forever. Here’s a Reform Proposal.
    Few things make Americans more upset than a threat to the Social Security program that they have spent years paying into. That is why a Facebook video of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., raising a point of order against the 2015 budget deal has been viewed more than 76 million times. That vote, taken in the…
    Sen. Mike Lee
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  • opinion

    Here’s How Congress Can Use Its Opportunity to Restore the Military
    Just a few short months after President Donald Trump was elected, the American people have come face to face with a reality known for years to defense leaders and military service members—the armed forces are facing a distinct crisis. Budget cuts, sequestration, and operational overuse have resulted in a force that is undermanned, underequipped, and…
    John Cooper
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  • news

    VA Tried to Pay $10 Million for 25 Parking Spaces, and 20-Year Official’s Excuse Is That He’s New
    Federal officials took six years to plan a new parking lot for a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia that would cost $10 million for only 25 parking spaces, as their solution for a 600-spot shortage. Then when outside auditors pulled the plug on the fiasco, the hospital’s top official—who had previously served as…
    Luke Rosiak
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  • opinion

    A Pathway to Work for Social Security Disability Beneficiaries
    Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries who recover should be on a pathway to return fully to the workforce, as soon as they are able. A new bill in Congress would pave the way for them to do so. This month, Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., introduced the Social Security Disability Insurance Return to Work Act of…
    Romina Boccia
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  • news

    House GOP’s Obamacare Bill Could Leave Veterans Without Access to Tax Credits, Health Policy Expert Says
    Changes made to the House GOP’s health care bill would prevent veterans from qualifying for the tax credits the new plan creates, according to a health policy expert. House Republican leaders revealed technical changes to the legislation, called the American Health Care Act, on Monday. But a review of the changes shows that potentially millions…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • news

    Trump Makes Next Move to Shape Federal Judiciary
    President Donald Trump has tapped a federal district judge from his list of potential Supreme Court picks to be his first nominee to a federal appellate court—putting Trump slightly behind President Barack Obama, but ahead of President George W. Bush in shaping the judiciary. “This is a great sign that President Trump takes lower courts…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    Judge Warns 9th Circuit’s Use of Trump Campaign Pledge ‘Judicial Psychoanalysis’
    A federal judge is raising an alarm about “judicial psychoanalysis” resulting from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on President Donald Trump’s executive order on “extreme vetting.” Last week, the 9th Circuit voted against rehearing the case that a three-judge panel had previously ruled on in affirming the federal district judge’s temporary restraining…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Transportation Reforms Take to the Fast Lane in Trump Budget
    Following on his pledge to eliminate wasteful and inappropriate federal programs, President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint delivers when it comes to the Department of Transportation. Trump’s budget blueprint shears the Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget by $2.4 billion—some 13 percent—by slashing some of its most egregious programs. Although most of the department’s funding is classified as…
    Michael Sargent
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  • opinion

    Conservatives Do Believe in Social Justice. Here’s What Our Vision Looks Like.
    Last month, America lost a great defender of freedom, Michael Novak. Novak was committed to rightly ordered liberty and cared deeply about the principles and practices that produce it. His enormous body of work emphasized the cultural prerequisites for political and economic freedom, as he stressed that economic conservativism and social conservatism are indivisible. In…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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  • opinion

    Natural Disasters Are Costing FEMA Way Too Much Money. Here’s What’s Wrong.
    As winter storms spread across the Midwest and Northeast this week, many Americans prepared for the worst by stocking up on necessities. But what about the Federal Emergency Management Agency or state and local governments? Are they prepared for the worst? Sadly, the answer appears to be no. Prior to 1988 and the passage of…
    Garrison Rutledge | David Inserra
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  • news

    VA Hospital Removes Trump Photo Hung by Veterans
    A Veterans Affairs hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, is facing questions today for removing photos of President Donald Trump and VA Secretary David Shulkin. (Update: The White House has ordered VA hospitals to hang Trump’s photo.) Fox News’ Ed Henry reported Thursday on “Fox & Friends” that U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and a wounded…
    Daily Signal Staff
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  • opinion

    Trump’s Unique Opportunity to Reform Social Security
    As President Donald Trump is preparing his first budget submission to the Congress, he should consider making Social Security reform a priority. The future of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and disability programs, and their impact on American families, the federal budget, and the economy, are issues too big to ignore. Social Security reform is…
    Jonathan Iwaskiw | Romina Boccia
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  • news

    Suspect in House IT Security Probe Also Had Access to DNC Emails
    Imran Awan—the lead suspect in a criminal probe into breaches of House of Representatives information security systems—possessed the password to an iPad used by then-Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz when DNC emails were given to WikiLeaks, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned. Wasserman Schultz resigned the DNC post in the…
    Luke Rosiak
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  • opinion

    Cartoon: National Security Leaks
    Michael Ramirez
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  • news

    Hill Staffers in Security Probe Said to Keep Stepmom in ‘Captivity’ to Access Cash
    Congressional staffers are accused of holding their stepmother in “captivity” with violent threats in a plan to use her to access money stashed away in the Middle East. The staffers are suspected of using their positions to enrich themselves. Days before U.S. Capitol Police told House members that three Pakistani brothers who ran their computer networks may have…
    Luke Rosiak
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  • opinion

    Kansas City Bombing Scheme Becomes First Terror Plot of 2017
    The FBI arrested Robert Lorenzo Hester on Feb. 17 and charged him with planning bombings in Kansas City, Missouri. The FBI said Hester, of Columbia, Missouri, plotted with undercover agents to use pipe bombs, some fitted with nails for maximum damage, to attack a train station and nearby buses. This was the 94th confirmed Islamist-inspired terror…
    Riley Walters
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  • opinion

    Trump’s Defense Proposal Would Boost a Languishing Military
    On Monday, President Donald Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, announced that the administration will seek a defense budget of $603 billion for 2018—“one of the largest increases in history.” Trump said nondefense spending would be cut by an equal $54 billion, “the largest proposed reduction since the early years of the Reagan administration.” The White House…
    Thomas Spoehr
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  • news

    Here’s What Conservative College Students Think About Socialism
    Hundreds of students from across the country traveled to the Washington, D.C., area last week to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Daily Signal asked some of these students their thoughts on socialism, and why they oppose it. Watch our video to hear their thoughts.
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    At CPAC, Panelists Discuss Role Vetting, Assimilation Play in National Security
    Extreme vetting and a border wall are the key issues facing the country under President Donald Trump’s administration—but aren’t the silver bullet solution to immigration, experts and members of Congress said Saturday. “Extreme vetting is something that applies to the refugee side of this debate,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., during a panel at the…
    Fred Lucas
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