Safeguarding US National Security at the Crossroads of Food and Climate Change

Executive Summary

Today, the global food security situation is dire, with a confluence of environmental, economic, and political shocks reversing progress on hunger and pushing more than 250 million people into food insecurity.¹ It is increasingly clear that a resilient food system is needed to ensure US national security and global stability. Yet pressure from conflict, economic shocks, demographic trends, water insecurity, geopolitical competition, and climate change complicate efforts to build such resilience.

This report identifies three areas where these dynamics intersect to affect US national security. First, the nexus of food insecurity and conflict threatens US interests, whether from instability over food price spikes, the weaponization of food by adversary states or extremists, or humanitarian crises from lost farming livelihoods. Second, the United States must navigate the geopolitics of food, whether Russia’s weaponization of food insecurity for leverage in Ukraine, China’s lead in agricultural research and development, or maritime conflict risks over dwindling fish stocks. Third, the US national security apparatus must be attuned to the challenges and opportunities in achieving a more resilient food system, ranging from the promise of innovation to prevent food-related security tensions to the instability pitfalls involved in reforming agricultural subsidies.