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

    Political Correctness Creates National Security Openings for Terrorists, CPAC Told
    “Political correctness kills.” That’s what Deneen Borelli, chief political correspondent for the Conservative Review, told hundreds of conservative activists during a panel discussion this morning at the annual CPAC conference just outside Washington, D.C. Borelli, also a noted author, used the mass murder by two Islamist terrorists in San Bernardino, Calif., to drive her point…
    Kevin Mooney
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  • news

    Republicans on Judiciary Committee Slam Door on Any Obama Supreme Court Nominee
    All Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee promised Tuesday to block any candidate nominated by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. In an open letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the 11 Republican senators said they plan “to exercise our constitutional authority to…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    Flashback to 1992: When Democrats Halted a Republican President’s Judicial Nominees
    If Senate Democrats get their way, Republicans won’t follow their example. That is, Senate Republicans in 2016 won’t act as Democrats did when they blocked court confirmations in 1992. Twenty-four years ago looked a lot like the inverse of today. On the eve of a presidential election, there was a Republican in the White House and…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    Does Congress Need to Authorize a New Use of Military Force Against ISIS?
    For over three years it has been debated whether Congress should update the Authorized Use of Military Force from Sept. 18, 2001 with a new war authorization designed to confront emerging terror threats from groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS). An Authorized Use of Military Force is not a substitute for a comprehensive strategy…
    Cully Stimson | Bradley Gullett
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  • opinion

    Homeland Security Starts Overseas
    The American people are concerned. Worries surround the Visa Waiver Program, the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, and the ever increasing number of domestic terror plots. A recent Gallup poll lists terrorism as the number-one concern of Americans. While most Americans want to see more homeland security protections, it is critical they understand that…
    David Inserra | Evan McDermott
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  • news

    Conservative Lawmaker Calls for More ‘Compassion’ on Social Issues
    Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., addressed the elephant in the room: Conservatives, he said, aren’t doing well on the social issues. “I’m not going to paint a rosy picture,” Walker said Wednesday at the 2016 Conservative Policy Summit, hosted by Heritage Action for America. He added: Our culture has been inundated and continues to be inundated…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    Here’s How Mike Lee and Jeb Hensarling Say Congress Can Fix the Federal Government
    Standing beneath a painting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Jeb Hensarling unveiled their Article I Project to revitalize Congress. Appealing to the memory of the Founders pictured, the Republican duo said Wednesday their project is meant to encourage the legislative branch to reflex old constitutional muscles and to reassert…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    This Tax Treaty Would Authorize the Automatic Sharing of Americans’ Financial Information With Foreign Governments
    In November, lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a number of seemingly innocuous tax treaties, which typically pass with little to no fanfare. However, buried among the eight tax treaties passed by the Senate panel is one that could have significant consequences for Americans with foreign bank accounts, as well as foreigners who…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Why Cybersecurity Information Sharing Is a Positive Step for Online Security
    President Obama signed recently into law a new federal spending bill that includes the latest edition of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA). The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act seeks to incentivize private companies and government agencies to exchange data on cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. The Heritage Foundation has recommended information sharing policies because they represent the…
    Evan McDermott | David Inserra
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  • news

    How the TSA and Drug Enforcement Administration Joined Forces to Seize Cash at Airports
    A new report from a government watchdog criticized the Drug Enforcement Administration for working with a Transportation Security Administration security screener to flag bags containing large sums of cash, which the drug agency could then take. According to the investigation from the Department of Justice’s inspector general released earlier this month, the TSA agent was registered…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Why We Need a National Security Transition Plan for the Next Administration
    In one year, a new president will move into the White House and be greeted with the consequences of President Barack Obama’s failed national security policies. To confront the likely chaos, the president must be armed with strategies and flanked by advisers who will enable the president to lead on day one. Though the first vote…
    Daniel Kaniewski
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  • news

    Kansas Governor to End State Planned Parenthood Funding
    Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced he intends to terminate state Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Kansas will be joining seven other states that have taken action to prevent the nation’s largest abortion provider from receiving taxpayer dollars. “Ensuring the health and safety of Kansans means protecting all Kansans at every stage of life,” Brownback, a…
    Mariana Barillas
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  • news

    Obama Judicial Nominee Who Accused Reagan of ‘Bigotry’ Faces Confirmation Vote
    President Obama’s nominee for a federal judgeship in Minnesota accused the Reagan administration of “bigotry” in her writing for the prestigious UCLA Law Review in 1989. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina Wright, who is expected to win Senate confirmation to federal District Court in her state next Tuesday, wrote the accusation shortly before graduating Harvard Law…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • opinion

    5 National Security Problems You Won’t Hear From Obama’s State of the Union
    President Barack Obama’s last State of the Union address will address a range of topics, and almost certainly include foreign policy and national security in some fashion. Unfortunately, the president seems set in his misguided ways on national defense. Here are five things that Obama should say in his State of the Union address, but…
    Justin Johnson
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  • news

    IRS Won’t Ask Nonprofits to Collect Social Security Numbers
    On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department withdrew a proposal that would give nonprofits the option of collecting personal information, including the Social Security numbers, from its donors. A critic called the government’s decision to abandon the proposed rule “a huge victory for American democracy.” “This is a huge victory for American…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    Was This Top North Korean Official Assassinated?
    North Korea announced Wednesday that its most senior official in charge of inter-Korean relations died in a car accident. Kim Yang-gon was head of the United Front Department of the ruling Korea Workers’ Party, a member of the North Korean Central Committee and alternate member of the Politburo. He had most recently negotiated with senior South…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    Most Senior Citizens Haven’t Fully Paid for Their Medicare, Social Security Benefits
    Have senior citizens really “paid for” the Medicare and Social Security benefits they enjoy in retirement?  Many believe so. But for the vast majority, the answer is – unequivocally- No. Federal entitlement payroll taxes and general revenues finance Medicare and Social Security benefits on a “pay–as-you-go” basis, meaning today’s workers’ taxes fund today’s retirees. Workers’…
    Robert Moffit
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  • news

    After Racial Incidents, Ithaca Students, Faculty Express ‘No Confidence’ in College President
    Weeks after the University of Missouri’s president resigned in the wake of protests following racially charged events, the faculty and staff at New York’s Ithaca College have expressed no confidence in its own president because of his response to a handful of race-related incidents. The faculty at Ithaca College on Monday cast overwhelming votes of…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Local Officials Advocating Sanctuary Policies Put Illegal Criminals Ahead of Americans
    San Francisco and other cities across the United States have created so-called “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens. These municipalities are defying federal immigration law, just like some Southern jurisdictions that defied federal civil rights laws in the 1960s. But unlike that earlier era, today’s sanctuary cities are creating safe havens for known criminals. Their policies have…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • opinion

    Cartoon: Einstein’s Theory of Insanity
    Mike Gonzalez wrote earlier this week on the president's national address: At his national address Sunday night, President Barack Obama lectured Americans at length on the evils of Islamophobia. That is a lofty sentiment, no doubt, but the harangue did strike many as disproportionate. After all, on this score Americans can already be rightly proud….
    Glenn Foden
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