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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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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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. -
opinion
Physician-Assisted Suicide in Hawaii Is an Attack on All of Us
Earlier this month, Hawaii became the sixth state in the U.S. to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Proponents of the law hail the move as a step toward “death with dignity,” but this could not be further from the truth. Physician-assisted suicide is a direct attack on human dignity. Every human life has value, not because of… -
news
Senate Confirms 3 Key Trump Administration Officials, 3 More Judges
After months of lagging in confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees for top executive branch posts, the Republican-led Senate helped the president staff up with a former Reagan administration appointee at the Labor Department, a top deputy at the Environmental Protection Agency, and a new balance of power on the National Labor Relations Board. The Senate… -
opinion
Bungling Judicial Precedent, Federal Court Upholds AR-15 Ban
Last week, a federal judge for the District Court for Massachusetts granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s prohibition of so-called “assault weapons,” such as the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Judge William Young held that the AR-15 and similar weapons aren’t protected by the Second Amendment, because they were originally designed for military… -
news
This California College Welcomes Propagandists for Venezuelan Socialism
A women-only college in California continues to host Venezuelan propagandists, with two government officials scheduled to speak Tuesday for the failed socialist regime. Scripps College in Claremont, California, invited Venezuelan Consul Generals Jesus Chucho Garcia and Antonio Cordero to address “coups and imperial wars,” “African solidarities,” and Venezuela’s plan to create a “new society rooted in… -
opinion
Racial Disparities Don’t Simply Boil Down to Discrimination
I don’t mind saying that this column represents a grossly understated review of “Discrimination and Disparities,” just published by my longtime friend and colleague Thomas Sowell. In less than 200 pages, Sowell lays waste to myth after myth not only in the United States but around the globe. One of those myths is that but… -
news
‘Definition of Tyranny’: Interim Director Asks Congress to Fix Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Trump administration is urging Congress to reshape a consumer agency crafted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., before it is used as a tool for “tyranny.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "is far too powerful, with precious little oversight of its activities,” the agency's acting director, Mick Mulvaney, said Monday in a public statement. “The power… -
opinion
Obama EPA Officials Protest Scott Pruitt’s ‘Secret Science’ Reforms. Here’s Why They’re Wrong.
Should the public be allowed to know how bureaucrats develop policies that have major impacts on our lives? Or should we simply be left in the dark? That seems like a silly question, right? Hopefully, the answer is obvious. For some though—including Gina McCarthy, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator from the Obama administration—transparency seems… -
news
Special Counsel Says Trump Aide Knowingly Communicated With Former Russian Spy
Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was in contact just before the 2016 election with a man he knew to be a former Russian spy, according to a document filed Tuesday by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The revelation comes in a sentencing memorandum filed about Alex van der Zwaan, a London-based lawyer who pleaded guilty in… -
news
US Joins Growing Coalition in Expelling Russian Officials Over Poisoning Incident
At least 26 countries have expelled Russian citizens in retaliation for Russia’s alleged involvement in a nerve agent attack against a former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, England. President Donald Trump moved to support British Prime Minister Theresa May by approving the expulsion Monday of 60 Russian diplomats or intelligence officers from the… -
opinion
‘Problematic Women’: Special Edition From the White House
On a special edition of “Problematic Women” from the White House, The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness and The Federalist’s Bre Payton take on John Oliver’s targeting of Vice President Mike Pence’s daughter’s new children’s book, Jim Carrey’s attack on Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ appearance, and Hillary Clinton’s excuses for her inflammatory comments last week. We also discuss the… -
news
Democrat Conor Lamb Clinches Pennsylvania Special Election
In a race determined by hundreds of votes out of about 228,000 cast, the Republican candidate for a Pennsylvania district conceded Wednesday to his Democratic opponent. Democrat Conor Lamb announced Wednesday night that his GOP opponent, Rick Saccone, had called to concede the Nov. 13 election in the Pittsburgh area district. “Just got off the… -
opinion
Pennsylvania’s Special Election Is a Wake-Up Call. Here Are 2 Lessons for Conservatives.
I’m perplexed why many in Republican circles are rationalizing and dismissing the gravity of the Democratic victory in the recent special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th District. My sentiments are more with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is cautioning Republicans to view this as a wake-up call to a possible disaster in the fall elections… -
opinion
4 Questions Lawmakers Should Ask Trump’s Trade Officials in Hearings This Week
Following weeks of not-so-free trade policies from the White House, members of Congress will soon have an opportunity to probe the administration on policy as well as the processes for imposing unilateral tariffs. The House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees will hold hearings this week on the Trump administration’s trade agenda, where two of… -
opinion
Why We Should Appreciate Andrew Jackson, Despite His Flaws
President Donald Trump hosted an event in the Oval Office in November to honor three Navajo code talkers who served during World War II. Characteristically, he made news when he referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as “Pocahontas” because of her contested claim of Native American ancestry. Also raising eyebrows was the fact that a…