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 VA Police Thought an Active Shooter Drill Was Real

    Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances converged at my office complex. As I stood in awe with my colleagues, someone said “There’s an active shooter in the building over there!” In disbelief I searched Twitter for clues. I found one tweet: Report of active shooter on 5th floor of skyline complex on Rt.7 in Fairfax…in…
    Daniel Kaniewski
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    • Opinion

    How Social Security’s Current Way of Calculating Cost of Living Hurts Taxpayers

    Social Security beneficiaries will not see a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) to their benefits this year. Social Security beneficiaries won’t see a boost in their benefits because there has been no measurable increase in the cost of the basket of goods that is used to calculate changes in the cost of living. In fact, the index measuring…
    Romina Boccia
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    • News

    A CIA-Trained Tibetan Freedom Fighter’s Undying Hope for Freedom

    PANGONG LAKE, India—At dawn, the old man stood outside his home on the Indian side of Pangong Lake, thumbing his prayer beads and chanting, “Om mani padme hum.” The sun was rising from behind a wall of Himalayan peaks on the opposite shore, which was Tibet. The old man’s face, which had been darkly tanned…
    Nolan Peterson
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    • Opinion

    Another Foreign Policy Failure for Obama: Pentagon Training for Syrian Rebels Ends

    After the grim announcement last month that only four or five Syrian rebels trained by U.S. military personnel remained inside Syria, the Obama administration has decided to call it quits on the program altogether. There were supposed to be roughly 5,400 trained fighters this year and 15,000 within 3 years in order to effectively combat…
    Elizabeth Hortopan
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    • Opinion

    To Avoid 19% Cut in Benefits, Lawmakers Must Overhaul Social Security Disability Program

    The trust fund that helps pay for disability insurance under Social Security is on track to run out of money next year, a shortfall that would trigger a 19-percent cut in benefits. To avert these painful cuts, policymakers should overhaul the program by dropping the progressive benefit structure and replacing it with a flat benefit…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    House Judiciary Rolls Out Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill

    Lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee stamped their mark on a criminal justice initiative to reform federal sentencing. With bipartisan signatures of support, Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., says the committee has pursued “responsible, common sense reforms to ensure our criminal justice system reflects core American values.” Goodlatte and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich.,…
    Leah Jessen
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    • News

    Senator Reveals Full Scope of Democrats’ ‘Manufactured’ Judicial Confirmation Crisis

    Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is pushing back on Democratic charges that the GOP-led Senate has dropped the ball on judicial confirmations under President Barack Obama. Grassley took to the Senate floor Monday after his colleagues confirmed the 314th judicial nominee since the president took office, noting that by this time in 2007, under…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Climate Change Is Not a National Security Issue

    On Monday, Oct. 5, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change released its most recent draft of a global climate change agreement ahead of the 2015 Paris World Climate Summit to “support the global response to the urgent threat of climate change by further addressing its causes and by further increasing resilience and the ability…
    Aaron Strickland
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    • Opinion

    How California’s New Assisted Suicide Law Could Especially Hurt the Poor

    “My concern is for people who don’t have resources, who don’t have a choice.” “You read about Oregon denying someone a lung transplant, but, ‘Here, you can you have these pills.’” “That’s my fear about what this would become.” That’s what Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents the San Diego area, told the Sacramento…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • Opinion

    3 Reasons Why Social Security’s Shortfall Could Actually Be $2.6 Trillion Greater Than Expected

    The Social Security Advisory Board’s Technical Panel concluded that the Social Security Trustees’ “assumptions and methodologies are basically sound.” But these “basically sound” assumptions understate Social Security’s projected 75 year shortfall by $2.6 trillion compared to the technical panel’s recommended assumptions. According to the trustees, Social Security’s 75 year shortfall amounts to 2.68 percent of…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    Judge Orders Arkansas to Pay Planned Parenthood for Treatment of Three Patients

    A judge has ordered the state of Arkansas to continue payments to Planned Parenthood on behalf of three Medicaid patients who sued the state after Gov. Asa Hutchinson attempted to defund the organization. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker issued a preliminary injunction mandating that the state continue to pay for three unidentified women—referred to as Jane…
    Kate Scanlon
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    • Opinion

    Obama Is Willing to Put Our National Security at Risk With a Veto

    The Russians are bombing CIA-backed rebels in Syria and continuing to hold parts of Ukraine. ISIS continues to spread in the Middle East and inspire attacks around the world. Iran is receiving hundreds of billions in sanctions relief, some of which will likely go to destabilizing the Middle East. China is building illegal islands in…
    Justin Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Hurricanes Highlight Why FEMA Should Be Reformed

    With hurricane Joaquin intensifying to category 4, citizens all along the East Coast should be preparing for a substantial impact. In the coming days, it is important to remember the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s advice: Know your evacuation route Gather supplies (first aid, food, flashlight, etc.) Establish a family plan (method of contact in case…
    Angelica Hickerson
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    • Opinion

    House Homeland Security Committee Task Force Releases Report on ISIS Foreign Fighters

    Following the completion of a six-month investigation, the House Homeland Security Committee’s Task Force on Combatting Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel released a final report on Tuesday, September 29. The bipartisan Task Force was formed in March with the primary purpose of reviewing both classified and unclassified information regarding the increased number of foreign fighters…
    Thomas Whittaker
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    • Opinion

    Defense Reform Is Far From Dead in Congress

    Defense reform has gotten a lot of attention around Washington—from members of Congress and senior Pentagon leaders as well as the usual policy mavens and influencers. Lately, though, whispers wafting from the Pentagon have suggested that perhaps defense reform has peaked, that Congress won’t support meaningful reform. Bushwah! Defense reform is far from dead in…
    Justin Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Special Forces Are Great, but They Require a Strong Conventional Military to Operate

    Reuters recently reported on a contingent of U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel in southern Niger assisting the West African country in its battle against the terrorist organization Boko Haram, which is increasingly raiding into Niger. The contingent is a portion of the approximately 1,000 special operators currently deployed across the continent, part of President…
    Joshua Meservey
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    • Opinion

    8 Important Takeaways From the 2016 Defense Authorization Act

    On Thursday the House (with the Senate shortly thereafter) will vote on the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016. That’s a long name for the annual defense policy bill passed by Congress for 53 years in a row. While many of the issues addressed by the bill are extremely…
    Justin Johnson
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    • Opinion

    6 Crucial Budget Facts Lawmakers Need to Remember

    The end of the fiscal year is here, meaning that Congress is scrambling to resolve a host of important budget issues that lawmakers have ignored all year. Most importantly, they must fund the government for the 2016 fiscal year (which begins on October 1st), and come December, they must address the impending debt ceiling. These…
    Michael Sargent
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    • Opinion

    While Iran Receives Billions From Lifted Sanctions, the U.S. Military Is Cut by Billions

    There are many reasons to think that the Iran nuclear deal is an awful agreement—one of those being the $150 billion (or so) that Iran will receive as sanctions are lifted. While Iran is receiving $150 billion, the U.S. military is struggling under cuts that total over $180 billion over the last four years. In…
    Justin Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Argument for Giving Law Enforcement Special Access to Encrypted Systems Falls Short

    In the continuing debate over whether law enforcement and intelligence officials should have some sort of special access to encrypted communications, officials are arguing that such access is important against “sloppy and stupid terrorists.” Objections have centered on the counterargument that allowing the government some form of special access to encrypted communications and systems would…
    David Inserra
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