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

    Former Obama Official Says Bureaucrats Manipulate Climate Stats to Influence Policy
    A former member of the Obama administration claims Washington, D.C., often uses “misleading” news releases about climate data to influence public opinion. Former Energy Department Undersecretary Steven Koonin told The Wall Street Journal Monday that bureaucrats within former President Barack Obama’s administration spun scientific data to manipulate public opinion. “What you saw coming out of…
    Chris White
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  • opinion

    How to Address the Looming Crisis of Physician Shortages
    As the struggle to repeal and replace Obamacare with a plan that will decrease fast-rising and exorbitant premiums as well as increasing consumer choice rages on, another health care crisis looms. Americans are facing an increasing shortage of primary care physicians, and the problem is only expected to get worse over the next 10 years. Imagine…
    Nicholas Poché | Kevin Dayaratna
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  • opinion

    Congress Should Exert Influence by Authorizing Military Force Against ISIS
    Syrian President Bashar Assad’s recent use of chemical weapons against his own people is a grim reminder of the deep challenges that continue to exist in Syria and the surrounding region. Compounding the problem is the brutal and ongoing presence of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, which has taken a toll in recent…
    Rep. Jim Banks
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  • news

    Trump to Announce ‘Tremendous Things’ for Veterans Health Care
    Some veterans organizations don’t think a bill President Donald Trump signed Wednesday expanding private care options for veterans goes far enough. “The veterans have poured out their sweat and blood and tears for this country for so long,” @POTUS says. Trump seemed to agree, which is why he said more announcements are coming next week…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Dysfunction at DC Veterans Medical Center Shows Rot in Federal Workforce
    When the majority of Americans look at Washington, they see a broken, bureaucratic system that far too often fails to defend their interests. We all learned again recently that the consequences of that failure can be deadly. The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs announced April 12 that the VA Medical Center in Washington,…
    John Cooper | Jarrett Stepman
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  • opinion

    Top 5 Reasons John Kelly Is Right for Homeland Security
    Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly gave a speech at George Washington University Tuesday outlining where he will be taking the department. This was the first address from a Cabinet secretary detailing how they plan to roll up their sleeves and make their piece of government work better. It’s not surprising that taking the initiative to…
    James Carafano
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  • news

    Kansas Republican’s Narrow Win Serves as Warning for GOP
    Republican Ron Estes won a seat in Kansas’ 4th District on Tuesday that was vacated when President Donald Trump appointed Rep. Mike Pompeo to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Estes will takes the seat Pompeo held in the House of Representatives since 2011 before joining the CIA in January. Estes, Kansas’ state…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • news

    What Determines If Susan Rice Committed Crime in ‘Unmasking’ of Trump Officials
    Political opponents have been quick to suggest that Susan Rice committed a crime in her waning days as national security adviser to President Barack Obama in the way she handled intelligence reports related to those close to the incoming president, Donald Trump. But to have broken federal law, national security experts told The Daily Signal,…
    Josh Siegel
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  • opinion

    Ailing US Military Needs More Than a Continuing Resolution
    The House Armed Services Committee scheduled a hearing Wednesday with the chiefs of staff of the U.S. armed forces to assess what the impact of a yearlong continuing budget resolution would be on the military. That such a hearing is even necessary is an indication of how far Congress has veered from accomplishing its constitutional…
    Thomas Spoehr
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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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