By Tom Ellison and Julia Greensfelder

Introduction

The ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles, California, driven by a mix of intense winds, dry conditions and brush exacerbated by climate change, and dense development in wildfire-prone areas, have devastated the lives and livelihoods of many of the area’s residents. The confluence of risks leading to these unprecedented fires presented an incredibly difficult challenge to overcome. At times, fire hydrants ran dry as sky-high demand for water for firefighting strained municipal systems not designed for fast-moving wildfires, and the heavy winds grounded firefighting aircraft. Still ongoing, the wildfires are on pace to be the costliest in US history.

These devastating winter fires and the unprecedented damage they have caused also illustrate how climate change threatens domestic security, with significant implications for broader US national security concerns. These risks include the fires’ direct harm to Americans, impacts and demands on the military and first responders, domestic and foreign misinformation risks that have arisen during the fires, and disruptions to other foreign policy priorities. The response to the wildfires also underscores the importance of subnational, national, and international cooperation to address such risks. The unprecedented nature of the fires and other recent disasters across America, like Hurricanes Milton and Helene, and their broader consequences, underscore the security imperative of planning for future risks and recalibrating the national security apparatus to handle such “actorless” threats that do not derive from any one state or non-state adversary.