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

    After Obama: Restoring Freedom, Opportunity, and Security With a ‘Blueprint for Reform’
    An upstart businessman wants to get ahead in society but can’t because of bureaucratic regulations. A talented college graduate can’t find a job as a result of a stagnant economy. A nation’s citizens feel threatened by terrorist attacks at home and abroad as elected officials reduce military spending. A government continues to burden the next…
    Matthew Hoke | Paul Winfree
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  • news

    Despite Efforts From LGBT Group, GOP Platform Retains Social Conservative Tenets
    CLEVELAND—A dramatic effort to change the GOP’s stance on LGBT issues ended with a whimper Monday as the Republican National Convention kicked off officially. The document, adopted Monday on the floor of Quicken Loans Arena, codifies the traditional definition of marriage and denounces the administration’s school bathroom directive. “It’s the most conservative platform we’ve ever…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    Widow Pursues Husband’s Dream of a Special Dog to Help Their Daughter
    Glenn Foden had a dream for his daughter, Hannah. He saw Hannah having a canine companion to help her maneuver through her struggles with autism. Foden, an editorial cartoonist for The Daily Signal and other news organizations, began to save for a service dog. But when the conservative cartoonist died unexpectedly in March at age…
    Faith Vander Voort
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  • news

    France Is at War, Officials Say After Terrorist Attack in Nice Kills at Least 84
    KYIV, Ukraine—At 3:45 a.m. Friday, just hours after a man drove a large truck through a crowd in the French seaside town of Nice, killing at least 84, French President François Hollande made a televised address to the nation. He began by making it clear the attack at the close of Bastille Day, France's Independence Day,…
    Nolan Peterson
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  • news

    How the GOP Senate Is Boosting Obama’s Judicial Legacy
    Republican senators consistently accuse President Barack Obama of refusing to follow the law and exceeding his constitutional powers. Yet they’ve been unwilling to draw the line when it comes to giving Obama’s judicial nominees lifetime appointments to the federal bench. So far in 2016, the Republican-led Senate has confirmed nine Obama judges. And that number…
    Robert B. Bluey
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  • opinion

    Debunking 6 Myths About the First Amendment Defense Act
    The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing Tuesday on one of the most important pieces of religious liberty legislation before Congress in years: the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho. Several Democratic House members and their invited witnesses made some stunning claims…
    Roger Severino | William Wolfe
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  • opinion

    5 Reasons the US Military Is in Trouble
    At a time when threats against America are growing, the U.S. military is facing a combat readiness crisis that jeopardizes its ability to protect the country. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, discussed this problem recently at The Heritage Foundation. Thornberry explained that this readiness shortfall has occurred as a result of “budget cuts…
    Justin Johnson | Frank Russo
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  • news

    Social Conservatives Declare Victory on Bathrooms, Marriage in GOP Platform
    CLEVELAND—After fending off attempts to change the Republican Party’s official position on LGBT issues and traditional marriage, a coalition of social conservatives cautiously celebrated an early victory Monday afternoon. Before the Grand Old Party picks its presidential nominee formally, a select set of delegates on the platform committee will spend the week staking out Republican…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    Thank TSA Mismanagement for Airport Wait Line Fiasco
    Missed flights, long waits, and frustration boiling over: the summer travel season is upon us and the American people are fed up with one of the worst travel periods in recent memory. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and the head of the Transportation Security Administration, Peter Neffenger, are pleading for help from Congress—and…
    Rep. Scott Perry
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  • opinion

    5 Things You Need to Know About the Defense Department’s New Gender Identity Policy
    Last week, the Department of Defense ended its recognition of service members’ biology and supplanted it with a radical ideology pushed by the Obama administration. As other commentators pointed out recently (here and here), there is no military justification for this move. According to a study the Department of Defense commissioned, personnel who consider themselves transgender currently…
    Daniel Briggs
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  • opinion

    Booker T. Washington and the Promise of Racial Reconciliation
    We are all trying to recalibrate our praise and blame of Americans once revered as “great.” Yale University is rightly conflicted over John C. Calhoun, and the state of Maryland is rightly conflicted over Roger B. Taney. Given the major role these two men played in hardening pro-slavery sentiment and hastening the Civil War, I…
    Diana Schaub
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  • opinion

    Pentagon’s Transgender Policy Defies Common Sense
    On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the U.S. military is dropping its policy of treating male and female troops according to their biology—to be replaced by a policy based on a radical new gender ideology. This change was not precipitated by military needs but by political correctness. After all, the military is not stretched…
    Roger Severino
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  • opinion

    NATO Designates Cyber as Official Domain for Warfare
    While the claim that hackers linked to the Russian government hacked the Democratic National Committee to steal research on GOP candidates certainly grabbed headlines, a more important story on cyberspace was unfolding in Brussels. In a press conference on June 14, NATO Allied ministers formally agreed to include cyber operations in its war domain along…
    Anna Ferrara | David Inserra
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  • opinion

    Social Security Programs Face Depletion in Near Future
    Social Security’s programs are in deep trouble. According to the just-released 2016 report of the Board of Trustees for the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, both programs’ trust funds will be depleted in the near future—old-age and survivors insurance in 2035 and disability insurance in 2023. Trust Fund Depletion Should Congress…
    Romina Boccia | Rachel Greszler
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  • opinion

    Politicians Are Wrong About NAFTA
    In 2012, 51 leading economic experts were asked what they thought about the following statement: On average, citizens of the U.S. have been better off with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) than they would have been if the trade rules for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico prior to NAFTA had remained in place. One…
    Bryan Riley
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  • opinion

    CIA Director Affirms Obama’s ISIS Strategy Is Not Working
    No, President Barack Obama—we aren’t winning the war against the Islamic State. The head of the CIA, John Brennan, testified on Thursday that, “Despite all our progress against [the Islamic State] on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group’s terrorism capacity and global reach.” In fact, the Islamic State, also…
    Bridget Mudd
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  • news

    Amid Process Battle, Conservatives Complain of GOP Financial Support of More Liberal Republicans
    An LGBT measure threatening the House appropriations process has exposed old fault lines inside the Republican conference while also forging a pragmatic alliance between leadership and conservatives. The amendment introduced by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., doomed an energy and water spending bill before Memorial Day—but only after 43 Republicans bucked the party line to…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    House Republicans Go Strong on National Security
    The United States is under growing threats, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his team deserve credit for recognizing that threat and outlining a plan for making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. During the last seven years under President Barack Obama, the United States has grown less safe. Threats are rising, such as…
    Justin Johnson
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  • opinion

    Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s ‘Military Justice Destruction Act’
    For the third time in as many years, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is pushing her radical scheme that, if enacted, would render the military justice system unworkable and ineffective. Don’t be fooled by the false label of her scheme—The Military Justice Improvement Act. In the last two years, she forced a vote on her idea,…
    Cully Stimson
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  • news

    TSA ‘Needs to Do More,’ Aviation Officials Say
    Aviation officials described current affairs at the Transportation Security Administration at a House subcommittee hearing in a bleaker light than the organization’s head did the day before. After the Homeland Security Committee’s interrogation of TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger last Wednesday, top airline officials testified before the Transportation Security Subcommittee the next morning on the skyrocketing…
    Andrew Egger
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