The F-117A Nighthawk Image By National Security Journal. Taken back in July of 2025 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
National Security Journal (NSJ) does everything it can to provide our readers with the most accurate, fact-checked, and transparently created content.
And we love showing our readers amazing original photography and videos (see the examples in this space).
We know we aren’t perfect, but we do try our very best.
Our goal is to ensure that you can trust what you read on this site, refer it to family and friends, and win your readership through publishing values that should be embraced by all outlets.
That said, the NSJ team has implemented the following editorial guidelines to ensure the high quality of our work.
These include, but are not limited to, core principles based on the life experiences of our editorial team and what we feel should be universal standards set by all publishing houses worldwide.
F-14 Tomcat. Image Credit: Jack Buckby/National Security Journal.
National Security Journal Publishing Guidelines
Inspired by standards set by countless publishers, Google, Newsguard, and many other companies that have laid out comprehensive guidelines for content, we strive every day to ensure:
We will always publish only truthful and accurate information and fact-check as much as humanely possible. Again, we will never be perfect, but we don’t pretend to be.
We publish all perspectives and do not have an ideological lens. That means conservatives and progressives are welcome.
We present sources clearly and accurately, and if we use confidential sources, we make that clear. We will also never publish a story from confidential sources unless we have at least two different sources. We do not publish single-sourced stories.
We fix our mistakes and will tell you about them — no stealth edits, ever.
We are an ‘opinion and analysis’ site first, the sort of content you can expect from us almost exclusively. If we publish news, we will be clear about that in the article.
We don’t do shady or deceptive headlines. We want to earn your click, not trick you into the click.
An emphasis on original photos and video: While we don’t have the resources to do this in every article, we travel across the United States to provide additional context in our stories by publishing original photos and video.
While you won’t see every story include original images and video, heading into 2026, we will focus on it.
USS Billings Deck National Security Journal Image. Taken by Stephen Silver.
How National Security Journal Is Funded: Ads Only
This publication, owned by National Security Journal INC., based in Delaware, is currently entirely funded by ad revenue.
In the future, we hope to have syndication deals to diversify our revenue streams.
We accept no other sources of revenue, which means our coverage is honest and free of conflicts of interest.
We do not do any “sponsored content.”
We do not accept funding from any government.
We do not add links to Amazon or any other affiliate programs for product commissions.
Our content is not influenced by money. Period.
No Direct Money from Defense Contractors, Ever
Unlike most military and defense publications, we do not accept money directly from defense contractors.
While you may see ads from defense contractors on our website, note that these are coming from ad partners they have paid that we have partnered with.
F-4G Wild Weasel. Photo Credit: Harry J. Kazianis, National Security Journal.
For example, a defense contractor can buy ad space in National Security Journal through an ad supplier with whom we have a contract; however, we are not soliciting such transactions in any way.
This, again, ensures that we have full independence and can create content honestly without bias. Again, we have no formal direct advertising relationship with defense contractors.
We do not take grants from defense contractors.
Simply put, we survive on ads, and what you see is what you get. There is no other agenda here.
Publishing Standards
No matter how reputable the source, all content is fact-checked as rigorously as possible.
If we make a factual mistake, we pledge to disclose it, explain how it occurred, and correct it.
Regardless of source, all content is checked for plagiarism using multiple methods paid for by this publication. This also means our editors check for self-plagiarism.
No matter how reputable the source, all content is checked for conflicts of interest. We also expect authors to disclose them.
F-4 Phantom Fighter National Security Journal. Image Taken on August 23, 2025.
NSJ does all it can to ensure that the authors who submit content are who they say they are.
As we strive to be open to all ideas and are a bipartisan site, we will never reject any submission regardless of its slant, left or right.
However, we will not tolerate or accept pieces that use ad hominem attacks.
None of our content is written by AI.
All of our content should be considered opinion and analysis unless stated otherwise.
USS Iowa Battleship Guns. Image Credit: National Security Journal. Taken on the Battleship USS Iowa in July of 2025.
Comments Standards
National Security Journal does allow thoughtful and respectful comments at the bottom of all articles. All comments must be written in English.
No comment will be posted that invokes racism, personal attacks, or uses foul language.
We never allow hyperlinks in comments.
This page was updated on 6/2/2026.