RELEASE: Military Leaders Agree with New Pentagon Roadmap: Climate Change an “Immediate Risk to National Security”
Washington, D.C. — The Center for Climate and Security (CCS), a policy institute with an Advisory Board of retired senior military officers and national security experts, concurs with the U.S. Department of Defense’s recently-released 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (CCAR), which states: “Climate change will affect the DoD’s ability to defend the nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security.” CCS also supports concrete actions called for in the roadmap, such as the integration of climate change considerations into “Department-wide plans and guidance to the Combatant Commanders,” while noting that important choices lie ahead.
In a joint statement, CCS Co-Directors Caitlin Werrell and Francesco “Frank” Femia said: “The CCAR shows that the Pentagon refuses to kick the can down the road. They see climate change as an immediate threat to the nation that will have to be dealt with immediately. Now our policy-makers need to follow the military’s lead.”
CCS Advisory Board member Admiral Frank “Skip” Bowman, United States Navy (ret) stated: “This CCAR is not about the science of climate change nor the ongoing cause/effect arguments that may never be settled. The roadmap lays out reasonable adaptation and mitigation actions to ensure or at least bolster our national security against measured and measurable climate change events, whatever the causes, or the duration, of the observed events.”
CCS Advisory Board member Rear Admiral David W. Titley, United States Navy (ret) notes that the CCAR is: “A useful waypoint on the climate adaption road. The roadmap emphasizes assessments, similar to the 2010 US Navy Climate Change Roadmap. Budget actions, specific deliverables and due dates are the next logical step.”
CCS Advisory Board member and Executive Director of the CNA Corporation’s Military Advisory Board, Hon. Sherri Goodman, stated: “The CNA Military Advisory Board and I are pleased that the DOD Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, approved by the Secretary of Defense, states directly that ‘Climate Change will affect the DOD’s ability to defend the nation and poses immediate risks to US national security.’ Now is the time for DOD to commit the resources and the requirements to turn this roadmap into reality. The DOD Climate Change Adaptation roadmap affirms that the national security risks of climate change are accelerating, and that the US will need to work in conjunction with its allies and partners to strengthen global resilience to climate disruption, including impacts on current military operations.”
CCS Advisory Board member Lukas Haynes said: “The Roadmap is a model of clarity and foresight about the known and foreseeable risks to national security posed by climate change. The Pentagon’s clear-headed thinking and planning is worthy of the attention of all senior political leaders in Washington.”
In a statement delivered to CCS, Captain Leo Goff, United States Navy (ret), program manager of CNA’s Military Advisory Board, said: “I am impressed by the comprehensive nature of the roadmap. This roadmap covers a wide spectrum of Defense Department adaptations necessary from operations, to training and readiness, to infrastructure, to logistics. I am pleased to see that it aligns so well with many of the findings and recommendations of CNA’s Military Advisory Board’s most recent report on “The Accelerating Risk of Climate Change.” Now DoD needs to stay the course and accomplish the goals and objectives of the roadmap.”
CCS applauds the Department of Defense for taking the initiative to address the immediate risks climate change poses to the nation, and encourages policy-makers to follow suit.
Read the 2014 DOD CCAR: http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/CCARprint.pdf
To speak with a CCS expert and/or Advisory Board member on this topic contact Francesco Femia at ffemia@climateandsecurity.org.
Related material: The U.S. military has been planning for climate change impacts from as early as 2003, as expressed in this collection of documents.
So you would expect: it was the military most acutely perceive the risks and dangers that threaten native country. Because their whole life has been devoted to the security of the motherland. This innate sense of military favorably with those of politicians. Therefore, rightly saying CCS Advisory Board member Lukas Haynes: “The Roadmap is a model of clarity and foresight about the known and foreseeable risks to national security posed by climate change. The Pentagon’s clear-headed thinking and planning is worthy of the attention of all senior political leaders in Washington. “Political leaders, of course, need to listen to these words.