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

    Benghazi Eyewitness Stories Contradict Official Account

    Eyewitness accounts of the Benghazi attack—broadcast by Fox News over the weekend—have now publicly and directly contradicted the official account as shaped by the State Department, the White House and even the House Intelligence Committee. During a Fox News special that aired over the weekend, three CIA security staffers posted to Benghazi told reporter Bret…
    Helle Dale
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    • Opinion

    Visa Waiver Program Is No Threat to National Security

    Recent reports of foreign fighters from Europe and the U.S. in Syria and Iraq have caused speculation regarding the security of the U.S.’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP). While there have been concerns regarding the security measures of supplementary VWP requirements and lack of information sharing, these worries are outdated. The program as a whole has…
    Riley Walters
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    • News

    Arab Bank Mounts Its Defense in Landmark Terrorist Financing Case

    The chairman of Arab Bank, Sabih Al-Masri, is expected to be the first defense witness as a landmark terrorism trial begins its third week in New York federal court. Three hundred U.S. nationals are suing Arab Bank, claiming it knowingly provided services to terrorists and their financiers in violation of U.S. anti-terrorism law. The plaintiffs…
    Sharyl Attkisson
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    • Opinion

    Transatlantic Trends: NATO Still Required for Europe’s Defense

    The German Marshall Fund announced the results of its annual Transatlantic Trends survey this week, to coincide with the 2014 NATO summit in Wales. The survey results revealed continued support for NATO’s core mission among European and American respondents alike. A majority of those polled believes that NATO is key to securing the territorial integrity…
    Helle Dale
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    • Opinion

    Joan Rivers’ Passionate Defense of Israel Against Hamas

    “Let me just tell you: If New Jersey were [blasting] rockets into New York, we would wipe them out,” said comedian Joan Rivers in July. Rivers died today at the age of 81.
    Daily Signal Staff
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    • Opinion

    Proof Everyone Needs to be ‘Kneaded’: Photos of a Very ‘Special’ Bakery

    This is Bradley Kohler. He’s a 24-year-old adult with Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic chromosome disorder that causes mild to severe mental impairment. He's had it since he was seven.  These are his parents, Mike and Tempa Kohler. When Bradley was 22, he "aged out" of the Gwinnett School in Georgia.  He needed a place…
    Kelsey Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Sharif Government’s Survival Crucial for Democracy in Pakistan

    Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan received a boost today when a joint sitting of parliament endorsed his leadership following two weeks of street demonstrations led by maverick politician Imran Khan. Khan, who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has joined with Pakistani religious leader Tahir ul-Qadri to demand Sharif’s resignation for alleged vote rigging in…
    Lisa Curtis
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    • News

    ‘Militarization’ Critics Want to Review a Pentagon Program After Ferguson. But Police Get Gear This Way, Too.

    President Obama has led a chorus of cries for a review of a Pentagon program supplying “excess” weaponry and equipment to state and local police following events in Ferguson, Mo., but it turns out that another federal agency is a major player behind the “militarization” trend. The Department of Homeland Security offers grants designed to…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    Pot Business Owners Donate Money to Politicians

    It’s probably unusual for political contributors to thank a candidate for taking their money, but that’s what Mike Elliott, executive director for the Marijuana Industry Group, did at a pot-industry fundraiser for Rep. Ed Perlmutter last month. “We really appreciate the fact we can come here and show you how much we appreciate you showing…
    Arthur Kane
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    • Opinion

    7 Reasons Why the Current Marriage Debate Is Nothing Like the Debate on Interracial Marriage

    Is opposition to same-sex marriage at all like opposition to interracial marriage? One refrain in debates over marriage policy is that laws defining marriage as the union of male and female are today’s equivalent of bans on interracial marriage. Some further argue that protecting the freedom to act publicly on the basis of a religious…
    Ryan T. Anderson
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    • News

    Pentagon Broke Law on Bowe Bergdahl Prisoner Swap, Government Audit Finds

    The Pentagon broke the law when it swapped Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a former prisoner in Afghanistan, for five Taliban leaders, government investigators said Thursday. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said the Defense Department failed to notify the relevant congressional committees at least 30 days in advance of the exchange—violating a provision of the National…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Missile Defense Symposium Measures Missile Threat

    Last week, Huntsville, Alabama, hosted the 17th annual space and missile defense symposium. The symposium is always a good barometer of the mood within the ballistic missile defense community. And while the mood this year was better than in previous years, it is clear that the ballistic missile threat is growing and that sequestration undermines…
    Michaela Dodge
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    • News

    Where Did ‘Military-Style’ Police Gear in Ferguson Come From? Hint: It’s Not Necessarily the Pentagon

    Much of the weaponry and apparel on display during police action to quell riots and looting in Ferguson, Mo., doesn’t look like surplus equipment supplied by the Pentagon but rather hardware purchased elsewhere, a Heritage Foundation expert says. “The ‘cool guy,’ load-bearing gear is frankly a lot better than we give soldiers,”  Steven Bucci, director…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    Local Law Enforcement Defend Use of Armored Military Vehicles

    Amid heightened attention about the militarization of police, law enforcement agencies across Mississippi are continuing to stock up on military-grade armored vehicles from federal surplus. Two sheriffs in Mississippi who are beefing up their vehicle fleets with armored vehicles say they’re doing so to protect officers and save tax dollars by acquiring the vehicles at little…
    Steve Wilson
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    • News

    ‘Thunderstruck?’: Missouri Governor Helped Ferguson Get Surplus Military Equipment

    Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who yesterday said he was “thunderstruck” to learn how militarized police in Ferguson had become, signed off  as recently as January on statewide participation in a Pentagon program providing local police departments with surplus equipment. In authorizing Ferguson police and other local law enforcement agencies to apply for firearms and other equipment, Nixon…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    These Veterans Served in Iraq. They Sound Off About What’s Going on There Today.

    It’s hard for Americans who fought in the war in Iraq to watch the rapid advances being made there by the brutal terrorist force that calls itself the Islamic State. Military veterans of the Iraq War told The Daily Signal that they were heartened that President Obama ordered airstrikes against the Islamic State. But, most…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    Two Questions on Iraq and the Islamic State for Bush’s National Security Adviser

    Stephen Hadley, national security adviser for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009, has experienced insight into what U.S. strategy in Iraq should entail. In a brief interview with The Daily Signal after a Heritage Foundation event yesterday on President Obama and Iraq, Hadley commended the administration for taking action against the terrorist force known as the Islamic State…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • Opinion

    Krauthammer: Wrong and Right on Border Security

    On Fox News, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer rightly took President Obama to task for his tragic mismanagement of border security and immigration reform. With the numbers of those attempting to enter the U.S. illegally swelling and matched by more border violence, criminal activity, and public health risks, the president’s answer is to hold out the…
    James Carafano
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    • News

    Military Bases to Stop Holding Border-Crossing Children

    As fewer unaccompanied children cross the southern border to enter the United States, officials say they no longer need to house them at military facilities. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it will suspend operations at three temporary shelters for young illegal immigrants on military bases, beginning with Fort Sill…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Q&A: Ebola in Africa Not Yet a National Security Issue

    This latest outbreak of the Ebola virus is getting a great deal of attention, as it should. Here are some questions that need to be asked and some answers you need to know: What is Ebola? The Ebola virus is a severe, often fatal disease that is in the hemorrhagic fever category. The symptoms include…
    Charlotte Florance
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