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
Was This Top North Korean Official Assassinated?
North Korea announced Wednesday that its most senior official in charge of inter-Korean relations died in a car accident. Kim Yang-gon was head of the United Front Department of the ruling Korea Workers’ Party, a member of the North Korean Central Committee and alternate member of the Politburo. He had most recently negotiated with senior South… -
opinion
Most Senior Citizens Haven’t Fully Paid for Their Medicare, Social Security Benefits
Have senior citizens really “paid for” the Medicare and Social Security benefits they enjoy in retirement? Many believe so. But for the vast majority, the answer is – unequivocally- No. Federal entitlement payroll taxes and general revenues finance Medicare and Social Security benefits on a “pay–as-you-go” basis, meaning today’s workers’ taxes fund today’s retirees. Workers’… -
news
After Racial Incidents, Ithaca Students, Faculty Express ‘No Confidence’ in College President
Weeks after the University of Missouri’s president resigned in the wake of protests following racially charged events, the faculty and staff at New York’s Ithaca College have expressed no confidence in its own president because of his response to a handful of race-related incidents. The faculty at Ithaca College on Monday cast overwhelming votes of… -
opinion
Cartoon: Einstein’s Theory of Insanity
Mike Gonzalez wrote earlier this week on the president's national address: At his national address Sunday night, President Barack Obama lectured Americans at length on the evils of Islamophobia. That is a lofty sentiment, no doubt, but the harangue did strike many as disproportionate. After all, on this score Americans can already be rightly proud…. -
opinion
After Hearing Oral Arguments, Legal Expert Thinks Abigail Fisher Should Win in Racial Discrimation Case
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in what is likely to be one of the most controversial cases of the current term: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. At issue is whether universities should be allowed to use racial preferences in their admissions programs. It’s the second time this case has made its way… -
opinion
Supreme Court Hears Case on Racial Preferences in College Admissions. Again.
It was “déjà vu all over again” as Yogi Berra would have said, at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, with protesters outside the court and race agitators like Al Sharpton leading the crowd, as the justices heard the case of Abigail Fisher for a second time. Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Fisher’s… -
opinion
Sending Special Forces Into Iraq Without a Strategy to Defeat ISIS Is Irresponsible
Last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the U.S. will send between 100 and 150 special operations forces to Iraq to conduct targeted ground raids against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. The announcement follows closely on the heels of President Obama’s October decision to send approximately 50 special operations forces to Syria. While… -
news
The IRS Wants Organizations to Collect Donors’ Social Security Numbers. This Tea Party Group Is Fighting Back.
A Tea Party organization is mobilizing its supporters nationwide in an attempt to stymie a proposed regulation from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the disclosures of donor information. Tea Party Patriots is launching an email and social media campaign—using #IRSPowerGrab—today, encouraging supporters and conservative leaders nationwide to push back against a rule proposed by the… -
opinion
PBGC’s 2015 $14.6 Billion Jump in Deficits: More Bad News for Beneficiaries of Troubled Private Pensions
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)—the government entity that insures private pension plans—released its 2015 annual report, showing a $14.6 billion jump in PBGC’s deficit, to $76.3 billion. This is bad news for millions of workers and retirees with financially strapped private-sector defined-benefit pension plans. When private-sector pension plans fail and can’t pay promised pension… -
news
Is This the Next Mizzou? As Racial Tensions Rise, Ithaca College President Faces Mounting Criticism
Around a thousand miles northeast of the University of Missouri, where racial tensions and protests led to the resignation of the university president, students and faculty at Ithaca College have mounted a challenge to their own leader following protests over alleged incidents of racism at the small private college. For months, the college of just… -
opinion
Mizzou Proves That Americans Should Not Be Forced Into Racial Categories
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is, like all bureaucracies, humorless and unyielding—and it is no less so when it comes to balkanizing or fragmenting Americans. Employers must divide the workforce into racial and pseudo-ethnic groups, growls the EEOC, whether the workforce wants to be divided or not. Here’s a sample of their FAQs on the… -
opinion
What the Constitution Tells Us About How Senators Should Consider Obama’s Judicial Nominees
What exactly is the Senate’s role of “Advice and Consent” when it comes to the nominations made by a president? It’s a topic of perpetual debate in Washington. One wrong-headed argument holds the role to be quite modest: Senators should defer to a president’s choices except in extreme circumstances. That position is advanced far too often by… -
opinion
Obama’s Special Operations Policy: Useless and Dangerous
No respectable historian will find much to admire in the president’s legacy as foreign policy and national security leader. Still, they may well bicker for many years over why he does what he does. The White House recently announced that special operations forces are going into harm’s way in Syria. That choice may be one of the defining… -
opinion
What Last Night’s Election Results Prove About Social Conservatism and Voters
Kim Davis confounded the pollsters and propelled an underdog candidate, Matt Bevin, to victory in the Kentucky governor’s race. Nearly two-thirds of voters in Ohio rejected marijuana. And citizens in Houston vetoed their city council and rejected a bad policy on sexual orientation and gender identity. Conventional wisdom is that social liberalism is an electoral… -
news
The CIA’s Secret Himalayan Hotel for Tibetan Guerillas
POKHARA, Nepal—It’s been 43 years since the CIA cut off support to the Tibetan guerillas that the agency trained and armed to fight a covert war against China. Yet, a monument to the CIA’s secret war in Tibet is still standing in Pokhara, Nepal. The former Hotel Mount Annapurna building sits on a quiet side… -
opinion
Why a Registry for Drones Is Being Rushed by Aviation Officials
Drones are flying off the shelf at a record pace. This holiday season, Americans are expected to buy 1 million drones. Drone manufacturers see sales measured in the billions. Federal officials, however, see nothing but danger. They look at this year’s record number of reports of near-collisions between passenger jets and drones, the encroachment of… -
opinion
New Study Shows Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide Increases Suicide Rates
Does legalizing physician-assisted suicide lead to a drop in the suicide rate? As counterintuitive as it sounds, some advocates of assisted suicide have been making this argument. A new academic study, however, shows the reverse to be true: legalizing physician-assisted suicide increases the total number of people committing suicide. This debate heated up earlier this… -
opinion
Budget Deal Kicks the Can on Disability Insurance, Robs $150 Billion From Social Security
The budget deal reached last night attempts to stave off depletion of the Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund at the end of 2016 by “reallocating” about $150 billion over the next three years from the Social Security Trust Fund to the Disability Insurance Trust Fund. This infusion of Social Security revenues should keep the disability… -
opinion
Debunking Myths About Banks and the 2008 Financial Crisis
Between now and the presidential election, we’ll be treated to all sorts of wonderful fables about what caused the 2008 financial crisis and the best way to prevent another one. Most of these stories will rehash the same old spin that we’ve been hearing for years. The biggest whopper concerns the Glass-Steagall Act, the 1933… -
news
After Shoring Up Support, Paul Ryan Is Officially Running for House Speaker
Rep. Paul Ryan is officially in the race for speaker of the House. In a letter to his Republican colleagues Thursday night, Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he’s “eager and ready to be our speaker.” Earlier this week, Ryan told House Republicans he would take the gavel only…