Conservative members of Congress may not be ready to acknowledge the reality of climate change, but the Pentagon sees it for what it is – a threat to national security.

Last week, the Pentagon issued a report assessing the immediate dangers of climate change. The military is no longer treating it as a theoretical threat. Unlike ideology-driven politicians, the military must deal with reality as it finds it.

The Pentagon lists a Pandora’s box of social and political ills resulting from conditions generated by climate change: terrorism, infectious diseases, poverty, conflicts caused by food and water shortages, and mass refugee migrations.

Any of these challenges would be daunting even without the prospect in the United States of rising sea levels, extreme droughts and violent storms.

Because the U.S. military is one of the first responders whenever and wherever there is a regional crisis in the world, it must plan for these possibilities, too. The fact that political unrest is the No. 1 ingredient for war, the likelihood that climate change will stimulate the necessary conditions for international chaos is high.

Some will dismiss the Pentagon’s concern on this subject as an attempt to prop up President Obama’s agenda as he tries to build support for a U.N. agreement on climate change, which could be signed in Paris next year.

But it’s more likely that the Pentagon doesn’t want to be stretched any more than it already is. Weather-related disasters that trigger more war and unrest would certainly do that.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.