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
Former Obama Official Says Bureaucrats Manipulate Climate Stats to Influence Policy
A former member of the Obama administration claims Washington, D.C., often uses “misleading” news releases about climate data to influence public opinion. Former Energy Department Undersecretary Steven Koonin told The Wall Street Journal Monday that bureaucrats within former President Barack Obama’s administration spun scientific data to manipulate public opinion. “What you saw coming out of… -
opinion
How to Address the Looming Crisis of Physician Shortages
As the struggle to repeal and replace Obamacare with a plan that will decrease fast-rising and exorbitant premiums as well as increasing consumer choice rages on, another health care crisis looms. Americans are facing an increasing shortage of primary care physicians, and the problem is only expected to get worse over the next 10 years. Imagine… -
news
Kansas Republican’s Narrow Win Serves as Warning for GOP
Republican Ron Estes won a seat in Kansas’ 4th District on Tuesday that was vacated when President Donald Trump appointed Rep. Mike Pompeo to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Estes will takes the seat Pompeo held in the House of Representatives since 2011 before joining the CIA in January. Estes, Kansas’ state… -
opinion
We Can’t Bail Out Social Security Disability Insurance Forever. Here’s a Reform Proposal.
Few things make Americans more upset than a threat to the Social Security program that they have spent years paying into. That is why a Facebook video of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., raising a point of order against the 2015 budget deal has been viewed more than 76 million times. That vote, taken in the… -
opinion
A Pathway to Work for Social Security Disability Beneficiaries
Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries who recover should be on a pathway to return fully to the workforce, as soon as they are able. A new bill in Congress would pave the way for them to do so. This month, Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., introduced the Social Security Disability Insurance Return to Work Act of… -
news
Trump Makes Next Move to Shape Federal Judiciary
President Donald Trump has tapped a federal district judge from his list of potential Supreme Court picks to be his first nominee to a federal appellate court—putting Trump slightly behind President Barack Obama, but ahead of President George W. Bush in shaping the judiciary. “This is a great sign that President Trump takes lower courts… -
news
Judge Warns 9th Circuit’s Use of Trump Campaign Pledge ‘Judicial Psychoanalysis’
A federal judge is raising an alarm about “judicial psychoanalysis” resulting from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on President Donald Trump’s executive order on “extreme vetting.” Last week, the 9th Circuit voted against rehearing the case that a three-judge panel had previously ruled on in affirming the federal district judge’s temporary restraining… -
opinion
Conservatives Do Believe in Social Justice. Here’s What Our Vision Looks Like.
Last month, America lost a great defender of freedom, Michael Novak. Novak was committed to rightly ordered liberty and cared deeply about the principles and practices that produce it. His enormous body of work emphasized the cultural prerequisites for political and economic freedom, as he stressed that economic conservativism and social conservatism are indivisible. In… -
opinion
Trump’s Unique Opportunity to Reform Social Security
As President Donald Trump is preparing his first budget submission to the Congress, he should consider making Social Security reform a priority. The future of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and disability programs, and their impact on American families, the federal budget, and the economy, are issues too big to ignore. Social Security reform is… -
opinion
Kansas City Bombing Scheme Becomes First Terror Plot of 2017
The FBI arrested Robert Lorenzo Hester on Feb. 17 and charged him with planning bombings in Kansas City, Missouri. The FBI said Hester, of Columbia, Missouri, plotted with undercover agents to use pipe bombs, some fitted with nails for maximum damage, to attack a train station and nearby buses. This was the 94th confirmed Islamist-inspired terror… -
news
Here’s What Conservative College Students Think About Socialism
Hundreds of students from across the country traveled to the Washington, D.C., area last week to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Daily Signal asked some of these students their thoughts on socialism, and why they oppose it. Watch our video to hear their thoughts. -
news
One Mom’s Fight for Her Special Needs Son in the Age of Obamacare
For Marjorie Weer and her family, the Affordable Care Act has been both a blessing and a burden. The family of four, who live in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, qualifies for a tax credit, and without the financial assistance, their policy would cost more than $1,200 per month. But beyond the financial help, Weer’s experiences… -
opinion
Senate Democrats Hold Up Cabinet Nominee for Special Interest Bailout
What does Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, have to do with pension and health care benefits for one group of retired coal miners? Nothing. But that hasn’t stopped congressional Democrats from holding up a necessary waiver on Lighthizer’s confirmation by insisting on attaching it to a completely unrelated bill that… -
opinion
Polls Showing Approval of Dodd-Frank Financial Agency Are Highly Misleading
With President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans taking steps to undo Dodd-Frank financial regulations, one agency at the heart of Dodd-Frank has become the object of increased attention. That agency is known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was created by the Dodd-Frank law passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Those… -
opinion
Court Ruling Against Trump’s Executive Order Shows the Worst of Judicial Activism
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has repeated the mistakes made by the district court judge who stayed President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending visas from seven terrorist havens. Both the judge in Washington state and the San Francisco-based circuit court have now refused to recognize the authority of Congress… -
opinion
Grand Theft Judiciary? The Senate, the President, and the Supreme Court
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., recently accused his Republican colleagues of committing a “crime against our Constitution.” This is a serious accusation, given that all senators are required to swear an oath (or affirmation) that they will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” So is it reasonable… -
opinion
Trump’s Executive Orders on Financial Regulation Are a Great First Step
President Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act, and on Friday he signed two executive orders to get that process moving. All Americans should be encouraged by this start, especially since the president is only two weeks into his administration. One of Friday’s executive orders deals with a single Obama administration rule, but… -
opinion
How Trump Can Advance the Special Relationship With Britain
Just seven days after taking office, President Donald Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Washington on Jan. 27. It will be the first visit to the White House by a foreign leader since Trump’s inauguration, and the meeting sends a clear signal that the Anglo-American alliance will be at the heart… -
news
Trump’s OMB Pick Shares Vision on Social Security, Regulation
Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., appeared before the United States Senate Committee on the Budget Tuesday to share how he will reform entitlement programs and regulations, should he be confirmed by the Senate as the next director of the Office of Management and Budget. In his opening statement, Mulvaney said that the Office of Management and… -
news
So Much for the GOP Blockade: Obama Tops Bush on Judicial Confirmations
Recent stories in Politico and The Washington Post paint a picture of unprecedented obstruction by Senate Republicans of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees. “Trump set to reshape judiciary after GOP blockade,” blared Politico’s Burgess Everett on Dec. 16. Nine days later, it was The Post’s turn. “Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans…