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

    Gowdy Accuses State Department, CIA of Not Cooperating With Benghazi Investigation

    More acrimony emerged between Democrats and Republicans during yesterday’s third public hearing of the House Select Committee on Benghazi than had been seen at any point since the committee was established last summer. Earlier hearings had been on topics suggested by Democrats on the committee—embassy security and other improvements—that were relatively uncontroversial. But the focus…
    Helle Dale
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    • Opinion

    DHS’s Focus on Amnesty a Greater Threat to Security than Budget Impasse

    Recently, a variety of policymakers and pundits have warned that failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of the President’s executive action on immigration would have a negative impact on U.S. security. Congress has been warned repeatedly not to treat our security as a “political volleyball.” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, invoking the…
    David Inserra
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    • News

    Higher Security Costs at Super Bowl XLIX will Leave Glendale in Debt, Says Mayor

    The mayor of Glendale, Ariz., is not optimistic about his city’s financial prospects after hosting Super Bowl XLIX. “I totally believe we will lose money on this,” Mayor Jerry Weiers told ESPN. Weiers said that Glendale was left in debt after hosting Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2008. According to ESPN,…
    Kate Scanlon
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    • News

    Poll: Health Care Costs Top List of Americans’ Biggest Financial Concerns

    In a new Gallup poll, Americans called “health care costs” and “lack of money/low wages” the “most important financial problems” facing their families. Fourteen percent of Americans said that health care costs or low wages were their biggest concern. Gallup notes that this is the first time that health care costs have “returned to the…
    Kate Scanlon
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    • News

    How You Can Be Legally Guilty of Racial Discrimination When You Didn’t Intend to Discriminate

    Can you be liable for racial discrimination even if you lacked the intent to discriminate? The Obama administration would say “yes,” under its favorite dubious legal theory, known as “disparate impact.” Today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., a challenge to…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • Opinion

    Questions for Secretary of Defense Nominee Ash Carter

    When it was announced on December 5, 2014, that former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was going to replace Chuck Hagel as President Obama’s fourth Secretary of Defense (SecDef), America immediately had many questions. Chief among them: “What does this mean for U.S. defense policy?” Carter is sure to be appointed, having broad bipartisan…
    Matthew Rolfes
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    • Opinion

    Where You Can Learn About the (True) State of the Union on National Security

    “Mama” may well be the first word out of a newborn politician’s mouth. But the first full sentence is likely to be “It is time to put politics aside.” What comes after that is, inevitably, pure politics. The State of the Union address has long since ceased being about the state of the union. The…
    James Carafano
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    • Opinion

    We Need to Debate What’s Right, Wrong with American Military Power

    Post-mortems on “How We Lost Iraq and Afghanistan” seem to be proliferating—even though there’s a lot of “mors” still happening in those battlegrounds. Of course, criticizing the conduct of war, even as bullets fly, is nothing new. Even “the Good War” had its share of cranky complaints about how the war was being won. One…
    James Carafano
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    • Opinion

    Should a Judicial Candidate Be Able to Request Campaign Contributions?

    On Tuesday, Jan. 20, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in its first campaign finance case since it threw out the aggregate limit on campaign contributions to federal candidates last year in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. But this latest case involves the rules pertaining to state elections in Florida, not federal elections,…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Critics Accuse Obama Administration of Jeopardizing US Security in Wake of Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Transfer

    Despite significant opposition from a group of Republican senators, the Department of Defense announced yesterday that five detainees would be transferred from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba to Oman and Estonia. “The detainees that remain at Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, and their continued release will only further damage our national…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    Audit: Va. Department of Transportation Squandered Millions on Lousy Contractor

    RICHMOND, Va. — A confidential audit found that the Virginia Department of Transportation wasted millions of tax dollars by failing to fine a nonperforming contractor. The Office of the State Inspector General concluded “at least $3 million” was “wasted” by VDOT management for not holding Serco Inc. accountable for allegedly incomplete or undone work. Serco…
    Kenric Ward
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    • Opinion

    How the Supreme Court Reacted to This Town Allowing Politicians Bigger Signs Than Churches

    Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, a challenge by a church to a town ordinance regulating signs. Like most other towns in America, Gilbert, Ariz., regulates when, where and how many signs may be displayed. Temporary noncommercial signs are classified by their content, and each category has…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • Opinion

    Why Washington Politicians Want to Hike the Gas Tax

    Suddenly everyone in Washington wants a gas tax hike—apparently so consumers don’t save too much money at the pump. As prices keep falling, the politicians and the moochers in Washington want a piece of the action. Rather than raise the federal gas tax, a better policy would be to repeal the federal tax and let…
    Stephen Moore
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    • Opinion

    The Biggest Problem Politicians Are Tempted to Ignore

    With so many high-profile, headline-grabbing issues facing the incoming Congress, lawmakers might be tempted to ignore one of the most persistent problems in Washington: overspending. How bad is it? In 2014, federal spending reached $3.5 trillion, and the one-year deficit was $486 billion. These huge numbers represent “a small and temporary improvement in the nation’s…
    Ed Feulner
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    • Opinion

    The House Just Made It Harder for Politicians to Steal From Social Security Retirement Fund

    This Tuesday, House Republicans nearly unanimously adopted new rules for the 114th Congress (H. Res. 5) which set the stage for long-overdue Social Security reforms to protect disabled Americans and seniors from indiscriminate benefit cuts. The new rule strengthens the integrity of Social Security’s separate trust funds (disability and retirement) by putting a procedural barrier…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    California Just Started Another Insane Government Project

    Talk about a trainwreck. Today, California broke ground on another disastrous government-funded project: high-speed rail that will eventually go from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The project is estimated to cost $68 billion. The plan is that the private sector will ultimately invest around one-third of the total cost, but so far, there have been…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • News

    #BlackBrunchNYC Captures Racial Divide in Police Protests

    Americans protesting fatal police encounters with black men took to a new location yesterday to shine light on the issue: New York City brunch spots. Using the hashtags #BlackBrunchNYC and #BlackLivesMatter, protesters targeted midtown restaurants, which they called “white spaces.” https://twitter.com/sharminultraa/status/551776710753288192 Reaction to the unconventional demonstration locations was divided. Some Twitter users rallied around the cause,…
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • News

    Why City Officials Tried to Shut Down Church’s Youth Glee Camp

    A legal battle between government officials in upstate New York city and a local Presbyterian Church has created a new challenge to religious freedom. The city of Auburn, N.Y., served pastor Eileen Winter with a zoning violation in July for hosting a youth glee camp inside a historic church-owned mansion adjacent to the First Presbyterian…
    Gabriella Morrongiello
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    • Opinion

    How the Left Wants to Eradicate Planes, Trains and Automobiles by Shutting Off Their Financial Fuel

    “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” is not just the name of Steve Martin and John Candy’s 1987 everything-goes-wrong comedy film. It’s also the prospective casualty list of the foundation-led anti-fossil-fuel campaign called the Divest-Invest movement. The new crusade “responds to climate change by urging universities, churches, pension funds and other big institutional investors” to destroy petroleum…
    Ron Arnold
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    • Opinion

    United, Orbitz Want to Keep Your Airline Ticket Prices Artificially High

    The past few years have seen the rise in “disruptive” tech startups playing a game of almost pure arbitrage, taking advantage of market inefficiencies to benefit consumers. Car services such as Uber and Lyft connect anyone with a smartphone directly to drivers, shortcutting the traditional street-hailing model. Uber is now valued at more than $40…
    Andrew Kloster
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