There exists a U.S. national security consensus that climate change presents a “strategically-significant risk” and will require a “comprehensive response.” It’s an issue that the next President of the United States (and likely, many after that) will have to take very seriously, no matter their ideological predilections. In this context, we are releasing a video (below) of a bipartisan panel of senior national security and military leaders who served across the Nixon, Reagan, Bush (both) and Clinton Administrations, discussing the strong military and national security rationales for addressing the challenge. The panel includes:
- Sherri Goodman, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security).
- Dr. Geoffrey Kemp, former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- General Ronald Keys, USAF (ret), former Commander, Air Combat Command
- Admiral Samuel Locklear III, USN (ret), former Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
- Hon. Dov Zakheim, former Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller)
The panel members are all signatories of the “Climate and Security Consensus Project Statement.”
The discussion was a part of the first annual Climate and National Security Forum, hosted by the Center for Climate and Security in partnership with the Center for the National Interest and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
To read the consensus statement, click here.
