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
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…Rachel Zissimos -
- 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…Melissa Quinn -
- 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…Rachel Greszler -
- 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…Melissa Quinn -
- 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…Mike Gonzalez -
- 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…Hans von Spakovsky -
- 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…James Carafano -
- 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…Ryan T. Anderson -
- 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…Nolan Peterson -
- 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…Jason Snead -
- 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…Melody Wood -
- 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…Rachel Greszler -
- 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…Norbert Michel -
- 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…Philip Wegmann -
- News
Ben Sasse Calls for ‘Ceasefire’ Between Social and Economic Conservatives
A new report by the American Enterprise Institute documents the connection between stable families and economic growth. The authors of the report, titled “Strong Families, Prosperous States,” contend that though the word “economics” comes from the Greek word “oikonomia,” which means “management of the household,” economists “have paid little attention to the links between household…Kate Scanlon -
- Opinion
The Insane Amount the White House Is Spending on Standing Desks
The White House reportedly wants to shell out a whopping $700,000 for standing desks. While it’s true that sitting all day long can have adverse health effects and it’s smart business to keep employees healthy, it’s an extraordinary amount of money to pay for something that can be recreated with a free cardboard box. Additionally,…Greg Ferenstein -
- Opinion
Californians on Insane Water Policy: ‘Whatever’
SACRAMENTO—If California flew a state flag that truly represented its popular culture, it’s possible we’d have not the Bear Flag, but a guy shrugging his shoulders and the word “Quicquid”—Latin for the state’s unofficial motto, “Whatever.” California residents have reacted to the state’s increasingly draconian water cutbacks with the well-known “whatever” spirit. They’ve significantly exceeded…Steven Greenhut -
- News
Why Social Security Benefits Aren’t Rising Next Year
The government announced on Thursday that nearly 65 million Americans will not receive an increase in Social Security benefits next year. The reasoning? Consumer prices have been down over the past year. The following can help break down a couple calculations that measure why Social Security beneficiaries will be without an increase in their 2016…Leah Jessen -
- Opinion
How Social Security’s Current Way of Calculating Cost of Living Hurts Taxpayers
Social Security beneficiaries will not see a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) to their benefits this year. Social Security beneficiaries won’t see a boost in their benefits because there has been no measurable increase in the cost of the basket of goods that is used to calculate changes in the cost of living. In fact, the index measuring…Romina Boccia -
- News
A CIA-Trained Tibetan Freedom Fighter’s Undying Hope for Freedom
PANGONG LAKE, India—At dawn, the old man stood outside his home on the Indian side of Pangong Lake, thumbing his prayer beads and chanting, “Om mani padme hum.” The sun was rising from behind a wall of Himalayan peaks on the opposite shore, which was Tibet. The old man’s face, which had been darkly tanned…Nolan Peterson