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

    New Numbers Show Continued Decline of US Military
    As a new presidential administration prepares to take office, the responsibilities it inherits are daunting. Threats to U.S. interests and security around the globe continue to grow and fester. At the same time, budget cuts have forced the Department of Defense into unsustainable practices, foregoing longer-term modernization to service the military’s more immediate needs and…
    Rachel Zissimos | Brian Slattery
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  • news

    Oregon Official Who Shut Down Sweet Cakes Loses Election Bid to a Republican
    The Oregon official who ordered the former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa to pay $135,000 in damages for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding lost to a Republican in his bid for Oregon secretary of state. Brad Avakian, commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and a staunch Democrat,…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    How Obama Can Facilitate a National Security Transition
    From now until Jan. 20, 2017, Obama administration national security officials need to do everything they can to ensure that the incoming team is ready to take over the government and continue the important work of protecting the security of the United States. The Donald Trump team needs to be ready on Day One for…
    Cully Stimson
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  • opinion

    Why We Celebrate Veterans Day
    Friday is Veterans Day. We celebrate Veterans Day on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year, the day the guns fell silent in Europe following the armistice that ended World War I. For some, it’s a day off from school or work, but for the majority of Americans, it means so much…
    Thomas Spoehr
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  • opinion

    Radical Social Agenda Now Costing the Democrats ‘Big League’
    Donald J. Trump is president-elect of the United States of America. Many, including me, never expected to read those words. But for many Democrats, this election result is unfathomable. Many reasons exist for why Trump will swear the oath of office on January 20, 2017. But among them is the fact that the Democratic Party…
    Casey Mattox
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  • news

    Why Kansas Conservatives Are Pushing Voters to Reshape the State’s Highest Court
    It’s typically a no-drama affair. Every six years, Kansans vote whether to retain the state’s sitting Supreme Court justices. The question is the last item on the ballot. In Kansas history, voters never have voted out a justice on the state’s highest court. But this year, the judicial elections in Kansas—known as retention elections—are especially…
    Josh Siegel
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  • opinion

    DC City Council Votes to Allow Physician-Assisted Suicide. That’ll Change Us All, for the Worse.
    Earlier today, the D.C. City Council voted to allow physician-assisted suicide. But the debate isn’t over. The Washington Post reports that “the council must still hold a final vote on the bill, possibly as early as Nov. 15,” and that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, must decide if she’ll sign or veto the bill. The mayor…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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  • opinion

    US Must Remain Vigilant to Counter Cyberattacks
    Dyn, a New Hampshire-based computer firm whose specialty is in providing the means to access websites through its servers, was brought offline by a sequence of large cyberattacks last Friday. This recent attack highlights the continued challenges that persist in cybersecurity and how the cyberthreat landscape is ever-changing. Dyn’s servers were compromised via a distributed…
    Riley Walters | Jacob Jordan
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  • news

    What Recent Hacking Attack Reveals About Election Security
    A hacking attack last Friday that disrupted major U.S. websites is an example of a new era of cybersecurity vulnerability in today’s interconnected world. The Oct. 21 cyberattack also furthered anxiety about the integrity of next month’s election, which has already been fraught with controversy over voting rights, and foreign interference. While the attack alarmed—but…
    Josh Siegel
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  • news

    ‘Clear Bias’ Against Hiring Veterans Under Obama Administration, Says Former VA Official
    Veterans must be given preference in securing federal jobs, according to long-standing laws, but hiring hasn’t always worked out in their favor. A federal audit found that on numerous occasions, agencies placed Obama administration political appointees into career government jobs with civil service protections—bypassing veterans. Much of the federal bureaucracy has turned against men and…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    DNC’s ‘Honest Mistake’ Defense of Dumping Sewage Hasn’t Worked for Average Americans
    Dumping raw sewage into a storm drain is a federal crime that has landed some unaware Americans in prison. Someone aboard a bus chartered by the Democratic National Committee, which depicted the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, reportedly dumped sewage into a storm drain in Lawrenceville, Georgia. A DNC spokesperson described the sewage dump…
    John-Michael Seibler
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  • news

    Controversial Proposal for Nurses Could Expand Access to Care for Veterans
    For years, state and federal policymakers have discussed proposals to expand the role of advanced practice registered nurses, with major physician groups like the American Medical Association squaring off against nurse organizations like the American Nurses Association. But a proposed rule from the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and clinical…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • news

    Socialist, Refugee Advocate to Run UN for Next 5 Years
    While it’s hardly the election to get the most attention this year, the United Nations General Assembly has confirmed a nominee with a background in socialist politics and refugee matters to be the organization’s new secretary-general. The 193-member United Nations General Assembly approved Antonio Guterres, a socialist whom President Barack Obama called a man of…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    Voters to Decide Legality of Physician-Assisted Suicide in Colorado
    Colorado could become the sixth state to make physician-assisted suicide legal when voters go the polls next month. “Doctor-assisted suicide is sold as a personal decision to end suffering at the end of a person’s life,” @jeffhunt says. Called Proposition 106, the ballot question in Colorado would allow a “terminally ill individual” to request and…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • opinion

    What the US Needs to Do About Russia’s Cyberattacks
    The U.S. finally is ramping up its response to Russian cyberattacks. Good. The bad news is our response shows how ill thought-out both our strategy toward Russia and our policies for retaliating against malicious cyber operations are. Russia has been linked to many cyber incidents, most notably the hack of the Democratic National Committee and…
    Ginny Montalbano | David Inserra
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  • news

    Think the First Amendment Protects Books and Movies? Government Officials Don’t Agree
    Books, movies, satellite radio shows, and streaming video about real-life politics aren’t protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press, some government officials argue. The Federal Election Commission hasn’t proposed banning books or movies, but in a 3-3 vote last month along party lines, the six-member panel left the regulatory option on the…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Expedited Cargo Screening a Boon to Shippers and Security
    The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency has recently expanded its expedited clearance program for oceangoing freight, the Advanced Qualified Unloading Approval (AQUA Lane) program.  This expansion should allow for Customs and Border Patrol to focus resources on more high-risk cargo, while allowing a faster turnover rate at ports. AQUA allows qualified shipping lines…
    Riley Walters | William Samuel
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  • news

    How Obama Political Aides Get Preference Over Veterans for Government Jobs
    A disabled veteran didn’t get a job he sought in a federal agency, although he was qualified for the position and was supposed to receive preference. The job went instead to a political appointee of the Obama administration. “Hiring decisions must be free from political interference, legitimate, and justified,” @jasoninthehouse says. This was just one instance in which a…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Time to Reform Social Security Benefits That Most Don’t Understand
    Social Security’s benefit structure is so complex that few Americans understand it. There’s a simpler way to provide benefits that also would help to improve the program’s worsening finances. Most Americans don’t understand the rules and details that affect their monthly Social Security retirement benefits, according to a Government Accountability Office report based on data…
    Lauren Bowman | Romina Boccia
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  • opinion

    Court Ruling Reins in Unaccountable Financial Regulation Agency
    The very first line of today’s court ruling in PHH Corporation v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) states: “This is a case about executive power and individual liberty.” Today, for once, liberty won in a big way. It would be hard to overstate the importance of the decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
    Diane Katz
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