We at the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) were saddened to hear of the recent death of our Advisory Board member, General Gordon Sullivan, US Army (ret). While serving as the 32nd Chief of Staff to the US Army, General Sullivan was an early champion of integrating climate and environmental concerns into US national security. As Sherri Goodman, Board Chair of the parent organization to CCS, the Council on Strategic Risks, and longtime colleague and friend noted in her tribute, the General “personally enabled the United States Department of Defense to lead into the climate and advanced energy era.”

In his retirement, General Sullivan chaired the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Military Advisory Board which produced the first-of-its-kind report in 2007, National Security and The Threat of Climate Change. In the report, Gen. Sullivan offered these wise words to those skeptical of including climate change in national security conversations: 

“People are saying they want to be convinced, perfectly. They want to know the climate science projections with 100 percent certainty. Well, we know a great deal, and even with that, there is still uncertainty. But the trend line is very clear…We never have 100 percent certainty. We never have it. If you wait until you have 100 percent certainty, something bad is going to happen on the battlefield. That’s something we know. You have to act with incomplete information. You have to act based on the trend line.”

In subsequent testimony to the US Senate regarding climate security risks, General Sullivan made his position crystal clear: 

“After listening to leaders of the scientific, business, and governmental communities both I and my colleagues came to agree that Global Climate Change is and will be a significant threat to our National Security and in a larger sense to life on earth as we know it to be.”

CCS founders Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell shared, “We are saddened by General Sullivan’s passing, who was such an inspiration to us and the Center. His remarks in the CNA report were foundational to how we thought about and talked about climate security from the very beginning. We would not be where we are today on this issue without General Sullivan’s groundbreaking leadership. Though it was for too short a time, we were honored to work with him. He will be missed.”

We at the Center remain inspired by the General’s leadership and will endeavor to serve his legacy in our work in the years to come.