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

    7 Big Judicial Setbacks to Obama’s Executive Overreach
    Much of President Barack Obama’s executive action legacy will be decided by the courts after he leaves office, but he had a rough judicial record while serving. Though Obama has frequently touted his pen and phone policymaking, these actions on immigration, environmental policy, and presidential appointees have often been swatted away by the Supreme Court….
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Projections Differ, but Social Security Is in Deep Trouble
    Millions of Americans depend on Social Security, and the government program is going broke. If Congress doesn’t take action to reform the nation’s largest entitlement program, its looming insolvency likely will lead to large benefit cuts along with large payroll tax increases. The Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Trustees each year report on long-term…
    Lauren Bowman | Romina Boccia
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  • news

    No Budget? This Senator Says That Should Mean Pay Cuts for Politicians, Staff
    After less than two years in Congress, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., thinks he’s figured out what’s needed to fix the cumbersome way lawmakers fund the federal government: teeth. More specifically, the freshman senator from Georgia wants members of both the Senate and the House and their staff to suffer “severe consequences” if Congress fails to…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    5 Statements From Top Military Brass That Should Concern You
    Four of America’s top military officers recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on long-term budget challenges facing the military. While the hearing didn’t grab many headlines, some of the statements from these leaders should make all Americans concerned about the status of our military. Ultimately, these four officers (the chiefs of staff of…
    Andrew Santora | Justin Johnson
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  • opinion

    How a President’s Bad Judicial Appointments Threaten Your Liberty
    When Americans cast their ballots for the next president this November, they will not only select the next commander in chief and primary enforcer of the law, they will help select a new Supreme Court justice and countless other lower court judges. Selecting judges is not an ancillary responsibility—it is a central and critical duty,…
    Tiffany Bates | Elizabeth Slattery
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  • opinion

    This Plan for Streamlining Oversight Would Enhance Homeland Security
    Key government officials are ready to reform congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, something that is long overdue. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has suggested in recent days that he would like to streamline that oversight. While it may sound strange, the homeland security committees in the…
    Ginny Montalbano | David Inserra
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  • news

    Judiciary Committee Set to Audit Top IRS Tax Agent
    A last-minute deal between House conservatives and Republican leadership delayed a floor vote to impeach the head of the IRS last week. But the top taxman isn’t in the clear just yet. For the first time, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will come under oath to plead his case, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    7 Weeks Before Election, Republicans Help Advance Another Obama Judicial Nominee
    As President Barack Obama’s time in office nears its end, the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced another one of his judicial nominees toward a lifetime post. She may not get to the finish line, though. While the Senate has entered that part of the political calendar when confirmations traditionally halt, the Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    House Judiciary Committee to Hold Impeachment Proceedings for IRS Commissioner
    Conservatives who belong to the House Freedom Caucus are trying to corner any Republicans thinking twice about impeaching the head of the Internal Revenue Service. They’ve framed the debate as a strict binary, telling fellow members of the GOP that they either can be with conservatives or with the IRS. Members of the Freedom Caucus took their…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    What a No First Use Policy Would Mean for Global Security
    As the clock is ticking, President Barack Obama is striving to cement his legacy in the realm of nuclear weapons policy. In the past, the president has suggested his nuclear policy goal would be a “no first use” policy—a plan many experts as well as U.S. allies continue to meet with skepticism and resistance. While…
    Michaela Dodge
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  • news

    Votes of Thousands Who Haven’t Proven Citizenship Could ‘Swing’ Kansas Elections
    With the presidential election two months away, a Kansas law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship remains in legal limbo. Late last month, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate a provision of a law requiring Kansans to prove their citizenship when registering to vote while obtaining driver's…
    Josh Siegel
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  • opinion

    ‘Socialism of the 21st Century’ Collapses in Brazil. Here’s Why It Failed.
    With the Senate impeachment vote to remove from office former President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilians joined a lengthening line of Latin Americans who have soured on the populist, corrupting, and impoverishing policies of “21st Century Socialism.” Faced with its disastrous consequences, people in some neighboring countries had already turned the page and moved on. Argentina wised…
    James M. Roberts
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  • opinion

    4 Reasons the Pentagon Shouldn’t Play ‘Hardball’ With This Funding Gimmick
    This week, Politico broke the story of a memo from senior Pentagon officials to the secretary of defense laying out how the Pentagon could “play hardball” against a funding gimmick included in the House defense policy and funding bills. The gimmick in both bills involves only funding overseas operations (in Afghanistan and elsewhere) for part of…
    Justin Johnson
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  • opinion

    Extreme Position of Pro-Choice Politicians Contradicts American Consensus
    Lurking behind the annual split among Americans over the labels “pro-life” and “pro-choice” is a new reality. The fact is that today, whatever label they choose, Americans overwhelmingly support abortion restrictions. Pro-choice politicians who typically support unrestricted, or almost unrestricted, abortion share the extreme view of a tiny minority of the American people. Consider this….
    Carl Anderson
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  • opinion

    Why Politicians and Taxes Can’t Save Taxis From Extinction
    Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft again made headlines this week. In Pittsburgh, Uber announced plans to begin the world’s first self-driving vehicle pilot program. Meanwhile, in the incorrigible liberal bastion of Massachusetts, taxi-friendly lawmakers passed a first-of-its-kind rideshare tax that will transfer profits from successful ride-hailing companies to the foundering taxis they are putting…
    Jason Snead
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  • opinion

    Government by Special Interests Is the Problem, Not the Solution
    “Bring back the special interests!” A version of this plea is heard more and more these days from those worried about the current state of our politics. It is the implicit theme of a recent Atlantic cover story, provocatively titled “How American Politics Went Insane.” The author, Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Rauch, asserts that the…
    James Wallner
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  • opinion

    Another Travel Fiasco Courtesy of the TSA
    I have long been a believer that, in most cases, a private company will do a more effective and efficient job than any government agency charged with the same task. My recent travel experience solidified that belief. It all started out with a half-empty water bottle at Ronald Reagan National Airport just outside the District…
    Genevieve Wood
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  • news

    Security Officials Consider National Hacking of Voting Machines Extremely Unlikely. Here’s Why.
    Successful computer hacks at major federal agencies, large corporations, and the Democratic National Committee have sparked concern that clever infiltrators from outside the country might attempt to tinker with the 2016 election results. The Department of Homeland Security asserts there is no credible cyberthreat to the 2016 election results, and state election officials and other…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    US ‘No First Use’ Pledge Would Degrade Allied Defense
    In the waning days of his tenure, President Barack Obama is reportedly contemplating declaring a “no first use” pledge for U.S. nuclear weapons. Such a policy decision, a dramatic reversal of America’s post-World War II security strategy, would be another step toward Obama’s utopian vision of global nuclear disarmament. U.S. allies rely on America’s extended…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    DEA Targets Innocent Americans, Accessing Travel Data to Seize Cash via Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws
    Well-meaning laws designed to nab high-level criminals have been twisted to siphon off money from law-abiding American citizens. The latest abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws involves air and rail travelers being targeted and fleeced by a federal agency. The Drug Enforcement Administration is pulling Americans’ travel data en masse from airline and Amtrak records,…
    Jason Snead
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