Resource: US Government Climate Security Analysis, Strategies, and Policies Across Republican and Democratic Administrations
Over the past few decades, a bipartisan acknowledgment of the climate threat has emerged within the United States, driving successive administrations to develop strategies and policies related to climate security. Since 2011, the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) has collected and saved these documents and hosted them on its website for use and reference. These have been organized into CCS’s Resource Hub. Our latest update includes US government documents from the past four years, though our comprehensive list includes resources going back to 1990.
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Climate Security and the New US Administration
Yesterday, following his inauguration, President Trump announced a range of climate and energy-related measures, including that the US would once again withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In 2019, our Climate Security Plan for America, endorsed by dozens of national security leaders, including 8 retired four-star generals and admirals, argued that such a move would lead to “… a loss of American prestige and international leadership as a result, a lack of trust between the US and its partners and allies, and significant moves by other nations, such as China, to fill that global leadership vacuum.” This is still the case, and already China is working to seize leadership on the topic globally.
The President and his administration are also stepping back from identifying climate change as a national security issue, revoking the Biden Administration’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. This creates a blind spot for US foreign and security policy and ignores years of bipartisan support in Congress for addressing climate security risks.
(more…)Devastating Los Angeles Wildfires Highlight National Security Risks Too
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.
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Climate Security Policy Recommendations for the New Administration
By Erin Sikorsky, Caroline Baxter, Siena Cicarelli, John Conger, and Tom Ellison
Introduction
In the past year, the United States, its allies, and partners have faced unprecedented floods, wildfires, and heatwaves that caused thousands of deaths and billions of dollars worth of destruction and required the deployment of tens of thousands of troops. These hazards affect US foreign and security policy through multiple pathways, from the direct impacts on critical infrastructure and military resilience, to the amplifying effects on state fragility and conflict risk, food and water security, and geopolitical competition. The US Congress was prescient in warning of these risks in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Trump during his first term, in which climate security was defined as “the effects of climate change on the following: (A) The national security of the United States, including national security infrastructure; (B) Subnational, national, and regional political stability; (C) The security of allies and partners of the United States; (D) Ongoing or potential political violence, including unrest, rioting, guerrilla warfare, insurgency, terrorism, rebellion, revolution, civil war, and interstate war.”
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