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.
-
news
Amid Process Battle, Conservatives Complain of GOP Financial Support of More Liberal Republicans
An LGBT measure threatening the House appropriations process has exposed old fault lines inside the Republican conference while also forging a pragmatic alliance between leadership and conservatives. The amendment introduced by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., doomed an energy and water spending bill before Memorial Day—but only after 43 Republicans bucked the party line to… -
news
Federal Officials Delayed San Bernardino Terrorist Attack Probe
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general concludes that the field office director at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “improperly delayed” investigators from Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting a “lawful and routine law enforcement action” after the San Bernardino terrorist attack last December. Inspector General John Roth conducted the investigation… -
news
He Blew the Whistle on a Global Financial Firm, Then Broke Open Swiss Bank Secrecy
This Sunday on “Full Measure,” we have the incredible story of a whistleblower sent to prison after turning evidence against one of the biggest and most secretive banks in the world. Released from prison four years ago, Bradley Birkenfeld is a wealthy man thanks to a record $104 million settlement paid to him by the U.S…. -
news
Judiciary Chairman: Obama Received More Confirmations Than Bush at This Point in His Presidency
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is pushing back against the idea that the judicial nomination process is broken after being criticized for not holding a hearing to confirm President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. The Senate Judiciary Committee, tasked with checking the president’s power to appoint federal judges, has held hearings for 38 of Obama’s judicial… -
opinion
The Myth That Regulation Can Stop Financial Crises
Regulation doesn’t prevent financial crises—a fact that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act conveniently ignored. Born from the myth that deregulated markets caused the 2008 crisis, Dodd-Frank inserts the federal government into virtually all components of the financial sector. The legislation polices everything from derivatives markets to payday lending, and it… -
opinion
Private Parties Are Held Accountable for Their Actions: It’s Time Government Officials Are Too
The federal government refused to hold its own officials accountable after the Environmental Protection Agency dumped millions of gallons of toxic water into the Animas River—a blunder that would likely result in a criminal conviction for a private party. Michigan’s attorney general, Bill Schuette, now deserves credit for doing what the federal government didn’t do: file criminal… -
news
Former Top Obama Official Says Operation Choke Point Had ‘Collateral’ Consequences
One of President Barack Obama’s former top Justice Department officials behind Operation Choke Point said Thursday the program had “unintended but collateral consequences” on banks and U.S. consumers. “Unfortunately, as the investigations continue, so too have one of the unintended but collateral consequences of such vigilance: mass de-risking,” wrote Michael J. Bresnick, who previously served as… -
opinion
Economic Literacy Can Counter Socialism
Economics is one field of study that, for the most part, has not been driven off the railroad tracks by politically correct leftists steering college coursework toward progressive ends. The wasted time spent breeding resentment toward America and teaching students how to feel offended has yet to seep into most economics curricula. Perhaps preventing that… -
opinion
Obama’s Misuse of Special Operations Forces Has Led to Larger ISIS Threat
President Barack Obama is misusing our most elite forces. Since the onset of the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), The Heritage Foundation has called for a greater use of American Special Operations Forces (SOF). This includes Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. Special Operations Forces are designed to conduct high-end politically charged warfare, and to… -
news
Judiciary Chairman Accuses Democrats of ‘Charade’ on Supreme Court
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing turned into a slugfest Thursday as Republicans and Democrats traded jabs over the GOP’s blockade of President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accused Senate Democrats of allowing “raw politics to infect the process” by stirring up a frivolous partisan fight. “Everybody knows any nominee… -
news
State Environmental Officials Say Obama’s EPA Has Overstepped Its Authority
The Environmental Protection Agency has overstepped its legal authority by imposing a regulatory agenda on the states, environmental officials at the state level testified Wednesday to a Senate committee. Randy Huffman, cabinet secretary at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, testified that the EPA’s flood of environmental regulations since President Barack Obama took office… -
news
Mike Lee: D.C. Politicians Trying to Take Advantage of Flint Crisis
The Virginia Tech professor who discovered toxic lead levels in Flint’s drinking water said he finds a federal aid bill for the Michigan city “disappointing.” Marc Edwards, an environmental and water resources engineer, told C-SPAN’s Washington Journal in an interview aired last week that the legislation does little to help Flint. Worth more than $100… -
news
Senate Judiciary Chairman Gives Obama a Lesson on the Constitution
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, used his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference today to remind grassroots activists that it’s not just President Barack Obama who gets to decide the next justice on the Supreme Court. “The Senate has its own authority to consent or not consent,” Grassley told the CPAC crowd. “There are separation… -
news
Republicans on Judiciary Committee Slam Door on Any Obama Supreme Court Nominee
All Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee promised Tuesday to block any candidate nominated by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. In an open letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the 11 Republican senators said they plan “to exercise our constitutional authority to… -
news
Flashback to 1992: When Democrats Halted a Republican President’s Judicial Nominees
If Senate Democrats get their way, Republicans won’t follow their example. That is, Senate Republicans in 2016 won’t act as Democrats did when they blocked court confirmations in 1992. Twenty-four years ago looked a lot like the inverse of today. On the eve of a presidential election, there was a Republican in the White House and… -
news
Conservative Lawmaker Calls for More ‘Compassion’ on Social Issues
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., addressed the elephant in the room: Conservatives, he said, aren’t doing well on the social issues. “I’m not going to paint a rosy picture,” Walker said Wednesday at the 2016 Conservative Policy Summit, hosted by Heritage Action for America. He added: Our culture has been inundated and continues to be inundated… -
news
Here’s How Mike Lee and Jeb Hensarling Say Congress Can Fix the Federal Government
Standing beneath a painting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Jeb Hensarling unveiled their Article I Project to revitalize Congress. Appealing to the memory of the Founders pictured, the Republican duo said Wednesday their project is meant to encourage the legislative branch to reflex old constitutional muscles and to reassert… -
news
This Tax Treaty Would Authorize the Automatic Sharing of Americans’ Financial Information With Foreign Governments
In November, lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a number of seemingly innocuous tax treaties, which typically pass with little to no fanfare. However, buried among the eight tax treaties passed by the Senate panel is one that could have significant consequences for Americans with foreign bank accounts, as well as foreigners who… -
news
Obama Judicial Nominee Who Accused Reagan of ‘Bigotry’ Faces Confirmation Vote
President Obama’s nominee for a federal judgeship in Minnesota accused the Reagan administration of “bigotry” in her writing for the prestigious UCLA Law Review in 1989. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina Wright, who is expected to win Senate confirmation to federal District Court in her state next Tuesday, wrote the accusation shortly before graduating Harvard Law… -
news
IRS Won’t Ask Nonprofits to Collect Social Security Numbers
On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department withdrew a proposal that would give nonprofits the option of collecting personal information, including the Social Security numbers, from its donors. A critic called the government’s decision to abandon the proposed rule “a huge victory for American democracy.” “This is a huge victory for American…