7/31/09

 
Denying the existence of climate change isn’t just ignorant, it’s dangerous. Climate change is happening with profound implications for the national security of the United States. National security experts, retired military officials, and many prominent conservatives are in agreement that climate change poses a threat to our way of life, to the global order, and even to how we keep ourselves secure. Last week John Warner, former Republican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pleaded with his former colleagues to take action: “On the battlefield, we never wait until we have 100 percent certainty or wait for the conditions to be 100 percent ideal. We have to act when we have enough information to act. And I think the information we have is clear. Again, I emphasize, the U.S. cannot and should not wait for other countries to take the lead.”After eight years of denial and dithering by President Bush, the Obama administration has bipartisan support for its efforts to revive international climate negotiations. But to forge an international agreement that comprehensively tackles climate change, the United States must lead by example. The House of Representatives recently took a hugely important step in passing climate change legislation, but the legislation now looks to be bogged down in the Senate. If the impact on our way of life and the generations that follow us isn’t enough, Senators should recognize that their inaction has dangerous consequences for our national security.  

Former Republican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee says that effects of climate change heighten global instability that endangers US.  Last week, retired five-term Senator from Virginia and former Navy Secretary John Warner testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on climate change and global security.  In his testimony, he stated, “I spent thirty years in the U.S. Senate working on behalf of our men and women in uniform serving our country; in my last years, on issues related to the potential impact of climate changes on their future military roles and missions. Leading military, intelligence, and security experts have publically spoken out that if left unchecked, global warming could increase instability and lead to conflict in already fragile regions of the world. If we ignore these facts, we do so at the peril of our national security and increase the risk to those in uniform who serve our nation. It is for this reason that I firmly believe the U.S. must take a leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

One of the main security concerns associated with climate change is the greater instability caused by a change in the environment and access to resources.  About this, Sen. Warner said “[m]any factors can lead to instability. To name a few associated with global climate change: severe droughts, excessive sea level rise, erratic storm behavior, deteriorating glaciers, pestilence, shift in agriculture ranges. These factors can result in water wars, crop failures, famine, disease, mass migration of people across borders, and destruction of vital infrastructure, all of which can further lead to failed nations, rise in extremist behavior, and increased threat of terrorism. Much of this is likely to happen in areas of the world that are already on the brink of instability. In other words, climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’ making worse the problems that already exist.”  [Sen. John Warner, 7/21/09]

Climate change is a major national security priority.  A broad consensus has emerged among national security experts that global warming is a national security threat.  

• Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell in the first-term of the George W. Bush administration recently said, “If I had to say what might be the biggest long term threat I'd say it might be climate change.”

• John Powers, Iraq War veteran and Chief Operating Officer of the Truman National Security Project, echoed Sen. Warner’s testimony yesterday before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  He said, “The threat to global stability is both serious and urgent. Changes to our air and sea temperatures are expected to result in increases in frequency and intensity of both storms and droughts, and decrease the availability of drinking water around the globe… I believe it is important to note that the threats to national security created by climate change are not abstracts – we have actually seen them first hand.”  

• Sharon Burke, vice-president of the Center for New American Security (CNAS), testified with Sen. Warner, saying, “[c]limate change may well be a predominant national security challenge of the 21st century, posing a range of threats to U.S. and international security.”

Last year, a joint report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) described conditions arising from global warming, including intensifying “tropical cyclones” that force resettlement in the coastal U.S., “water shortages” in Mexico, “which will drive immigration into the United States,” and rising sea levels in the Caribbean.  Climate change also carries the potential to exacerbate violent conflict.  A 2007 report by International Alert (IA) warns of “a real risk that climate change will compound the propensity for violent conflict, which in turn will leave communities poorer, less resilient and less able to cope with the consequences of climate change.” The report emphasizes that 46 countries, containing 2.7 billion people, are at high risk from the dual threats of climate change and violent conflict.  The confluence of problems brought about by climate led the National Intelligence Council, in its recent Global Trends 2025 report, to argue that global warming was one of three major threats that could destabilize the international system. The NIC warned that climate refugees, resource wars, and an increase in destructive weather events could all undermine American and international security.  [Jonathan Powers, 7/30/09. Sharon Burke, 7/21/09. Richard Armitage, 6/16/09. Center for Naval Analyses, May 2009. Center for New American Security & Center for Strategic and International Studies, 11/07. International Alert, 11/07. Global Trends 2025, 11/08]

By continuing to deny the existence of climate change, conservatives are jeopardizing our national security.  Prominent conservatives are refusing to treat climate change seriously, willfully ignoring a serious threat to our national security.  Last week, noted conservative and Washington Post columnist George Will fired his 6th salvo this year at what he termed “the altar of climate change.”  Despite the fact that Michel Jarraud, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), had responded to one of Will’s previous columns to say that according to WMO studies, global warming “has accelerated particularly in the past 20 years,” Will chose to reiterate his claim that there was no cause for alarm about climate change.  Will has been joined by conservatives in congress, eager to ignore the consequences of climate change.  Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) called climate change “a hoax” on the floor of the House, receiving applause from his conservative colleagues.  This followed the introduction of a House Republican energy bill, which stipulated both that “nothing in the Clean Air Act shall be treated as authorizing or requiring the regulation of climate change or global warming,” and that “the impact of greenhouse gas on any species of fish or wildlife or plant shall not be considered for any purpose in the implementation of this Act.”  The bill received broad support from House conservatives, including 3rd ranking minority member Mike Pence, who said that “the science is very mixed on the subject of global warming.”  Despite a strong consensus from the national security community that climate change represents a serious threat to Americans’ national security – including a 2007 Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) study, endorsed by 11 retired generals and admirals, that concluded that “projected climate change poses a serious threat to America’s national security” – conservatives continue to plead ignorance. [George Will, 7/23/09. Michel Jarraud, via Think Progress, 3/21/09. Rep. Paul Broun, via Think Progress, 6/26/09. GOP American Energy Act, 6/10/09. Rep. Mike Pence, (R – IN), 6/10/09. Rep. Mike Pence, (R – IN), via Think Progress, 5/05/09. Center for Naval Analyses, 2007]


General McCrystal is preparing a new strategy that aims to use more unconventional methods to combat the growing Taliban insurgency.

The British government launched an independent inquiry into its role in the Iraq war and has confirmed that former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be among the witnesses. Officials said that the investigation would not "shy away from making criticism."

The United States is moving to deepen its security cooperation with Russia as part of the Obama administration's effort to “reset” relations with Moscow.

Though it has been 13 months since the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision granting detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge their detention before federal judges, as of yet few prisoners have had their day in court.

At least 29 people were killed in an apparent coordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving Friday prayers at five Shiite mosques in Baghdad, Iraqi police and hospital officials said.