Photo: C-Span

A bipartisan group of defense and diplomacy leaders issued a statement today affirming that U.S. national security demands action on climate change. The statement includes over 45 signatories including three former Secretaries of Defense, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, and William Cohen, two former Secretaries of State, Madeline Albright and George Shultz, former CIA director Jim Woolsey, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and a number of senior retired military leaders including Admiral Samuel Locklear III, General Anthony Zinni and General Ron Keys, among other senior leaders. The statement begins:

For years, America’s intelligence community and armed services have recognized climate change as a threat to U.S. national security – shaping a world that is more unstable, resource-constrained, violent, and disaster-prone. This issue is critically important to the world’s most experienced security planners. The impacts are real, and the costs of inaction are unacceptable. America’s elected leaders and private sector must likewise think past tomorrow to focus on this growing problem, and take action at home and abroad.

The statement was produced by the Partnership for Secure America and is available here.