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US Northern and Southern Command: Climate Change Impacts Our Area of Responsibility
Admiral Craig S. Faller, USN, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, speaks to the House Armed Services Committee on March 11, 2020
In case you missed it – on March 11, the Full House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in North and South America.” Witnesses providing written statements and answering questions included the HON Kenneth Rapuano, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, Admiral Craig Faller, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, and General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, Commander, U.S. Northern Command. In their conversations with committee members, the two commanders acknowledged that climate change is affecting their Area of Responsibility, or AOR.
Puerto Rico and Climate Security Planning
U.S. Navy conducts search for people in distress after Hurricane Maria (U.S. Navy photo by Liam Kennedy)
Guest post by Chad Briggs, Strategy Director, GlobalInt LLC
News of the unfolding humanitarian disaster in the US territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands following Hurricane Maria have been disquieting, to say the least. Critics have accused the Trump administration of slow response to the hurricane impacts, while defenders of the White House claim that such responses take time, and that things are going as well as could be hoped. Coupled with the damage to Florida and Texas following Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, the US and its Caribbean neighbors have experienced the most intense month of hurricane activity in history.
Although conditions are far from stable and it is too early to draw full conclusions from current events, two important points should be made in reference to the September 2017 hurricanes. First, despite the complicated nature of disaster response and the difficulties in aiding an island with millions of people, planning techniques exist that allow effective mitigation and response- it is a matter of political will as to how well they are employed. A related point is that such disasters may well become more severe due to climate change, and it is incumbent upon the US government and its allies to plan for such events and their impacts well in advance. (more…)
2017 Hurricanes: Military Increasingly Getting Its Feet Wet
Sailors load water near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as humanitarian relief following Hurricane Maria. Navy photo, Petty Officer 3rd Class Danny Ray Nunez Jr.
By Lieutenant Commander Oliver-Leighton Barrett, United States Navy (Retired), Senior Research Fellow
Admiral Keating, Commander of U.S. Northern Command from 2004 to 2007, remarked that “The energy Katrina released was the equivalent of 1,000 Hiroshima explosions.” In responding to the aftermath of the hurricane, U.S. Northern Command units – in conjunction with the National Guard – providing tens of thousands of military personnel, search and rescue resources, and humanitarian supplies.
Though the combined destructive energy and impact of the 2017 Hurricane triumvirate, Harvey, Irma and Maria, have yet to be conclusively framed and assessed, it’s worthwhile even now to look at some of the ways that the military is increasingly being drawn into the kinds of battles that can’t be won with weaponry. Such conversations are especially relevant since the military (particularly, Combatant Commands, their components, and National Guard units) is increasingly being called upon to significantly augment civil emergency agencies after big storms events. (more…)
Climate Security Week in Review April 7-13
Jost Amman, (1568)
Here are a list of notable headlines and comments on climate and security matters from the past week. If we’ve missed any, let us know.
- NHC has completed the official Tropical Cyclone Reports for all 2017 Atlantic tropical cyclones. All reports and associated kmz files and shapefiles can be found at https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/index.php?season=2017&basin=atl … via @NHC_Atlantic
- In what ways could the the
@UN Security Council address the global security challenges brought about by#climatechange ?@UNSWCanberra‘s Shirley Scott explores this in her new book Climate Change and the UN Security Council http://bit.ly/2HiFIiP via @UNSWCanberra
