U.S. Intelligence Agency News
The Daily Signal provides coverage of intelligence operations, surveillance controversies, and the role of U.S. agencies in national security and civil liberties.
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- Opinion
17% of Judicial Positions Are Now Vacant
As Sen. Bob Dole once said, the judges a president appoints may be his most profound legacy. Federal judges have become increasingly powerful, much more so than America’s Founders intended. For our system of government to work as designed and to produce the liberty it promises, presidents must appoint the right kind of judges. President…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
We Hear You: Climate Change, Wedding Cakes, Social Security, Planned Parenthood, and Transgender Soldiers
Editor's note: Our interview with a straight-talking climate change skeptic captured a big audience, and this week's roundup begins with that. Unrelated question: Have you been pressured to participate in an LGBT Pride Month celebration at work? Tell us what happened by writing [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: Thank you, thank you, thank you for…Ken McIntyre -
- News
Advocates for Disabled Warn Against AMA’s Softening Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide
The American Medical Association’s decision this week to reconsider its long-standing opposition to assisted suicide doesn’t sit well with some advocates for the disabled. The AMA voted Monday by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent to continue studying the issue, though without reaffirming that its current policy opposing assisted suicide would remain in place….Katherine Rohloff -
- Opinion
The Grim Consequences of Not Reforming Social Security
Each year, the trustees of Social Security and Medicare issue their report delivering the news, invariably dismal, about the financial condition of the nation’s two largest entitlement programs. This year, in the report just issued, it’s worse than usual. Last year, the trustees forecast that Social Security and Medicare’s hospital insurance would have to start…Star Parker -
- News
If Russia Invades, US Special Operations Forces Have an Unconventional Plan to Liberate the Baltics
DOLASZEWO, Poland—In less than 72 hours, U.S. special operations forces transformed a nondescript reserve base at this village in the bucolic Polish countryside into the headquarters of a simulated, special operations war to liberate NATO’s three Baltic countries from a land invasion. Looking in from outside the perimeter wire, however, you’d never know it. Only…Nolan Peterson -
- Opinion
Trump Official Affirms Commitment to NATO Allies in Major Speech
President Donald Trump’s vision for European policy is a welcome change from the muddled approach taken by the Obama administration. That was the assessment of A. Wess Mitchell, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, in a sharply focused major policy address Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation. Mitchell’s speech came against a…Nile Gardiner -
- News
Obama Administration Allegedly Let Iran Access US Financial System Because It Was ‘Desperate to Get a Deal’
The Obama administration secretly allowed Iran to access the U.S. financial system to convert assets to U.S. dollars, despite repeated assurances that it would not permit such transactions, a new Senate subcommittee report alleges. “The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran,” Sen. Rob…Ryan Pickrell -
- Opinion
Here Are 5 New Signs Social Security Is Going Insolvent
The Social Security Administration released its annual trustees report this week, and the prognosis is not good. Trust fund depletion—the date when Social Security’s reserves will be exhausted and the program will only be able to spend what it receives in payroll taxes at that time—is approaching at a rapid pace. This year, Social Security will…Romina Boccia -
- Opinion
Venezuela’s ‘21st-Century Socialism’ Is an Unmitigated Disaster
The sham re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on May 20 has made it clear that the humanitarian crisis in that country will only get worse. Maduro has been running a dictatorship since the election of the constituent assembly in July of 2017, and Venezuelans are suffering because of it. Many on the left have…Julia Howe -
- Opinion
Why Capitalism Is Morally Superior to Socialism
Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what…Walter E. Williams -
- News
Trump Issues Commercial Space Policy Directive on Eve of Anniversary of JFK’s Space Program Speech
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a space policy directive, calling for “updating and refocusing” those policies in a bid to promote innovation and modernize American commercial space policy. The White House said the move “reforms America’s commercial space regulatory framework, ensuring our place as a leader in space commerce.” This is the second space…Ginny Montalbano -
- Opinion
Social Justice Warrior Accuses Conservative Women of ‘Appropriating’ Feminism—but We’re Not Having It
Fake news, move over—there’s a new con (wo)man in town. It’s called fake feminism, and according to a woman on the left, conservative women are the culprits. Liberal feminist writer Jessica Valenti, author of books such as “Sex Object: A Memoir,” and “Why Have Kids?”, took to The New York Times Sunday to argue Republicans…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
Senators Need to Stop Asking Judicial Nominees Their Personal Views
On Thursday, in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s business meeting, Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, addressed efforts to force judicial nominees to express personal views on issues or cases in their confirmation hearings. Senators routinely press nominees, for example, to say whether particular Supreme Court precedents, such as Brown v. Board of Education or Roe v. Wade, were correctly decided….Thomas Jipping -
- News
California Officials Back Trump on Crackdown on ‘Sanctuary’ Policies
California law enforcement and local officials gathered at the White House on Wednesday to make it clear that Sacramento doesn’t speak for them on illegal immigration. The Democrat-controlled state Legislature passed and Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a “sanctuary state” law that prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities…Fred Lucas -
- News
6 More Judicial Nominees Advance in Trump Bid to Reshape Judiciary
President Donald Trump is completing a strong week, and is set to kick off a strong next week, in his push to reshape the federal courts, with Senate Republicans forcing votes on six more of his judicial nominees. Despite the Democrat minority in the Senate using procedures to delay many confirmation votes, Senate Majority Leader…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Right Side of History: Special Counsels Hunting Presidents Nothing New
“The Right Side of History” is a podcast dedicated to exploring current events through a historical lens and busting left-wing myths about figures and events of America’s past. On this week’s episode, we discuss investigations by special prosecutors, which didn’t start with Robert Mueller’s probe of President Donald Trump. In 1875, President Ulysses Grant named…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Military Families Want Better Schooling, but Special Interests Stand in the Way
“Dems warn school vouchers for military families could ‘derail’ annual defense bill,” Politico reported last week. At the same time, special-interest groups, such as the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, are holding Capitol Hill briefings suggesting that empowering military families with school choice would “defund Impact Aid.” These objections, however, are without merit, and…Lindsey Burke -
- Opinion
Democrats’ Universal Job Plan Would Be a Socialist Disaster
Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to announce a plan that guarantees every American “who wants or needs one” a lifetime government job paying at least $15 an hour, with health insurance and other perks. This new progressive workforce will then, according to The Washington Post, build glorious “projects throughout the United States aimed at addressing…David Harsanyi -
- News
How Federal Consumer Agency Puts Your Financial Data at Risk
About 1,000 records of data containing Americans’ financial and personal information may have been hacked after breaches of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, officials say. “I am absolutely concerned about the exposure of our data in this rogue agency that has no responsibility to this Congress,” @SenDavidPerdue says. The CFPB, the government agency created…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Podcast: California Tries to Silence Social Conservatives
California state lawmakers are considering a bill that would curb speech about LGBT matters. The Daily Signal’s Jarrett Stepman joins us to discuss. Plus: Dr. Michelle Cretella, who has written for The Daily Signal, gets dozens of protesters when she goes to speak at a church about transgender issues.Katrina Trinko