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

    The Fall of a Former Chinese Domestic Security Chief Is a Major Event

    Reports from China indicate that retired senior leader Zhou Yongkang is under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the equivalent of the “Internal Affairs” division of a police force. The investigation into Zhou constitutes a major event in Chinese politics. No other Politburo Standing Committee member has…
    Dean Cheng
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    • Opinion

    Portman Proposes Reforms for Social Security and Medicare

    Senator Rob Portman (R–OH) proposed reforms to Social Security and Medicare in The Wall Street Journal last week. Reforms to both programs “can not only help close the debt, it can also create a stronger economy,” Portman argues. He specifically proposes “adjusting Social Security and Medicare’s retirement ages, means-testing benefits for upper-income retirees, and supporting…
    Caleb Zimmick
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    • Opinion

    VA Compromise Bill Ignores Budget Rules and Employs Gimmicks

    The chairs of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees made a deal on Monday to authorize $15 billion in additional spending in response to recent revelations of scandals at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). All spending in the bill would be authorized as “emergency spending,” despite several of the bill’s provisions failing to…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    Can Higher Payroll Taxes Fix Social Security?

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed several different payroll tax proposals to shore up Social Security’s finances, and the results are not very appealing. The Social Security trust fund ran a $71 billion deficit in 2013 that is on pace to quadruple by 2032. Some have called for a payroll tax increase, but CBO found…
    Michael Sargent
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    • Opinion

    Excessive Oversight Harms U.S. Homeland Security

    On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 Commission report, the former commission members released a new analysis of U.S. homeland security that listed Congress as the greatest obstacle to homeland security. Excessive congressional oversight hinders the ability of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect the American people. On Sunday, distinguished homeland security experts…
    Andrew Tucker
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    • Opinion

    Social Security Report: Massive Deficits Increase Unfunded Obligation by $1.1 Trillion

    Today’s release of the 2014 Social Security Trustees Report shows its programs’ finances are in dire need of reform if the programs are to provide to seniors and the disabled protection from poverty and do so in an affordable and sustainable manner. Social Security paid out nearly $71 billion more to retirees and other beneficiaries…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    The CIA’s Twitter Is Not #Winning

    Carl Colby grew up in a family where no one talked about what dad did. Even family outings were mysterious. “We’d go somewhere — family trip on the weekend, picnic basket in the back — and he’d meet somebody. Have a conversation, deliver something,” Carl recalls in the fascinating documentary, “The Man Nobody Knew: In…
    James Carafano
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    • News

    Newt Gingrich: ‘Turn the Pentagon Into a Triangle’

    Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that he would like to “turn the Pentagon into a triangle.” “I always tell people I’m a hawk,” Gingrich said. “But I’m a cheap hawk.” Gingrich honored the 20th anniversary of his “Contract with America” by pointing conservatives back to a key point in his Republican…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Do You Want Your Private Financial Information Automatically Shared with Russia or China?

    On Monday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released the full version of the global standard for automatic exchange of information. The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters calls on governments to obtain detailed account information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on…
    David Burton
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    • News

    Border Crossings Stop After Texas Man Takes Security Into His Own Hands

    City of Hidalgo, Texas—Othal E. Brand Jr. is a man in control, and as such, when drug cartels began exploiting the stretch of river at the water pump station he runs, he built a Border Patrol-friendly boat ramp, watchtower and helicopter pad to beef security there. In the Rio Grande Valley, Brand wields more power…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Holder Claimed Some Americans Oppose Him Because of ‘Racial Animus’

    Were you aware that your opposition to Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama is due at least in part because of your “racial animus,” and not because you disagree with their policies and abuse of their constitutional authority? That, anyway, is Holder’s latest claim, which shows how disconnected the attorney general is from reality….
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Va. Farmer Says Green Group Urged County to Harass Her With Zoning Citations

    A well-funded, politically influential environmental group based in Fauquier County, Va., stands accused of colluding with government officials and real estate moguls to force a local farmer into selling a highly coveted parcel of land. The Piedmont Environmental Council, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt group, and the husband-wife real estate team of Phillip and Patricia Thomas,…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • Opinion

    States Already Have Transportation Funding Independence

    Campaigning this week for more federal transportation spending, President Obama said, “There’s something called the Highway Trust Fund [HTF]—I suspect this crew is familiar with it. It helps states support transportation projects. If Congress fails to fund it, it runs out of money.” Indeed, the House just passed a $10.8 billion bailout of the HTF…
    Emily Goff
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    • Opinion

    Is Sending the Military to the Border a Good Idea?

    James Carafano is a 25-year Army veteran, a graduate of and former professor at West Point, and a leading expert on military strategy, including border issues. In his decade at The Heritage Foundation, he has conducted extensive research on border issues, including making frequent trips to the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. On the…
    James Carafano
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    • Opinion

    Five Factors from the New CBO Report on Veterans’ Healthcare

    Last week the Congressional Budget Office issued an updated budget score for lawmakers’ proposal (H.R. 3230) to expand veterans’ access to healthcare outside the VA for two years. CBO’s verdict: If the measure passes, VA would receive expanded authority and unlimited funds for two years to pay for health care from non-VA providers. CBO’s 16-page…
    Romina Boccia
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    • Opinion

    Why a President’s Judicial Appointments Matter

    One issue voters often overlook when selecting presidential candidates is what type of judges those candidates will support. These are lifetime appointments, and a two-term president could nominate hundreds of judges to the federal judiciary – with advice and consent of the Senate. From trial-level district court judges to the justices on the U.S. Supreme…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Conservative Groups Respond to Liberal Criticism of Kansas Tax Cuts

    Conservative groups came together for a conference call Thursday, arguing against left-leaning media claims that Kansas’ steep income tax reductions have contributed to the downfall of the state’s economy. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback slashed the income tax in 2012 in an effort to reverse the state’s 15 year trend of trailing national economic averages. Some…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • Opinion

    Why Mexico’s Southern Border Security Strategy Is Not Enough

    Last week, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina launched a program aimed at regulating the influx of immigrants from Guatemala to Mexico called Southern Border or “Frontera Sur.” Intended to improve the system for cataloging migrant movements between both countries, the program aims to increase information on migrants, and thus help…
    Andrea Rodriguez
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    • Opinion

    Our Politicians Keep Surrendering U.S. Independence to Other Nations

    Four weeks after D-Day, having fought fiercely for 28 consecutive days, American troops were still within eyeshot of the Normandy coast. They were already short of artillery rounds, but Gen. Omar Bradley didn’t care. The commander of U.S. ground forces was determined to send the enemy a message. And so, to mark U.S. independence on…
    James Carafano
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    • Opinion

    Collective Self-Defense Is Good for the U.S.-Japan Alliance

    On July 1, a prime-minister-appointed security advisory panel determined that Japan has the right to collective self-defense, a right guaranteed to all nations under the U.N. charter but previously not exercised under Japan’s pacifist constitution. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to implement collective self-defense will strengthen the U.S.–Japan alliance, but he faces strong opposition domestically…
    Riley Walters
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