National security

Former President Donald Trump waves as he makes a visit to the Cuban restaurant Versailles after he appeared for his arraignment on June 13, 2023, in Miami, Florida. Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges including possession of national security documents after leaving office, obstruction, and making false statements. (Alon Skuy/Getty Images)

U.S. judge sets mid-August date for Trump trial in classified documents case

BY: - June 20, 2023

Former President Donald Trump is set to face a jury trial on federal charges of mishandling classified information, after the Miami judge overseeing the case signed an order Tuesday scheduling the trial to begin Aug. 14. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, whom Trump appointed to her seat on the federal bench in the Southern […]

Former President Donald Trump speaks on May 28, 2022, in Casper, Wyoming. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

Questions and answers about Trump’s indictment on federal criminal charges 

BY: - June 9, 2023

A federal judge in Florida unsealed an indictment that accuses former President Donald Trump of hiding classified national security documents after he left the White House, improperly storing them and sharing sensitive information with people who lacked security clearance. Though he’s not the only former federal official to improperly take classified documents with him after […]

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment against former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department on June 9, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The indictment is unsealed: Trump faces 37 felony counts in classified documents probe

BY: - June 9, 2023

Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury, making him the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The 37-count indictment in the Southern District of Florida, handed up by a grand jury there, was unsealed Friday. According to the indictment, Trump schemed with an aide to keep possession of top secret […]

Gov. Kristi Noem visits troops during the 2019 Golden Coyote Exercise at Rapid City in 2019. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. Jamaal Turner)

Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment

BY: - June 2, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality. Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National […]

An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Noem orders National Guard troops to Mexican border again

BY: - June 1, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem announced plans Thursday to deploy more South Dakota National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border this summer. Noem has sent South Dakota soldiers to the border previously. She said the new deployment comes in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for assistance. Noem is joining 12 other Republican governors who […]

B-21 Raiders, which will be housed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, are stealth bombers capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons. (U.S. Air Force)

Rule change would make foreign purchases near Ellsworth reviewable

BY: and - May 22, 2023

When a Chinese company was on the verge of building a corn milling plant last year near an Air Force base in North Dakota, people concerned about national security wondered why the federal government hadn’t stopped it. As it turned out, a federal committee tasked with reviewing foreign investments in the U.S. lacked jurisdiction over […]

In this photo illustration, the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on Aug. 7, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One state already has voted to ban TikTok. For Congress, it’s going to be much tougher.

BY: - April 18, 2023

As TikTok has mushroomed to more than 150 million monthly U.S. users, so have warnings among both state legislators and members of Congress about its potential danger as a tool of the Chinese government. Dozens of states and the federal government this year banned public employees from downloading the popular app on their government devices. […]

A Chinese balloon flies above Billings, Montana, on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Chase Doak, Special to States Newsroom)

U.S. House approves bill seeking more information on Chinese airborne surveillance

BY: - April 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a bill Monday that would require U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials to report to Congress their work with allies deterring Chinese surveillance aircraft and to provide a classified briefing on any airborne spying over the U.S. by the rival nation since 2017. The Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace Act, or […]

Governor Kristi Noem conducts a bill-signing ceremony in a military hangar at the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing at Joe Foss Field on Mar. 22, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Noem signs ban on ‘evil foreign government’ contracts, takes questions on ag land and trusts

BY: - March 22, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — With a fighter jet in the background, Governor Kristi Noem conducted a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday in a military hangar where she celebrated efforts to mitigate the influence of what she called “evil foreign governments.”  “I’ll do everything in my power that I can to ensure that our people stay as free as […]

In this aerial view, a destroyed apartment building is seen next to an area of heavily damaged houses on April 21, 2022, in Borodianka, Ukraine. (Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

White House unveils $2B in weapons for Ukraine on one-year anniversary of Russian invasion

BY: - February 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration announced an additional $2 billion in weapons and a host of new sanctions targeting Russia’s key industries and government officials. The Friday announcement came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s historic and surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, where […]

Rep. Will Mortenson, chair of the South Dakota House State Affairs Committee, listens to testimony on Jan. 20, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Attempts to block foreign ag-land ownership continue, despite existing laws that address it

BY: and - February 23, 2023

PIERRE — Efforts to prevent and root out existing foreign ownership of agricultural land in South Dakota are still in progress, despite the Legislature’s rejection of a proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem, and despite a set of 44-year-old state laws that already facilitate some of what lawmakers are trying to accomplish.  The governor’s bill would […]

President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden says no evidence yet that unidentified flying objects were tied to China spying

BY: - February 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — In his first address since the U.S. military shot down three unidentified flying objects last weekend, just days after taking down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the actions and said the skies above the U.S. will now be more closely scrutinized. Biden, who was under increasing pressure […]