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Climate Change Is a Security Issue

by Jim DiPeso, REP Vice President for Policy and Communications
Statement at Veterans Day press conference in Seattle, November 11, 2009

Good afternoon.

Today, as we have done on the 11th day of the 11th month since the Great War, we honor the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines of America’s armed forces.

It’s an appropriate day to think about the risks that those in uniform face in service to America.
 
When we think about climate change and its risks to our world, we may picture polar bears struggling on shrinking ice floes, or perhaps fires consuming the West’s great forests.

We should consider another risk as well – that a changing climate will worsen droughts, storms, and floods, tipping fragile countries over the edge, and breeding extremism and conflicts that require U.S. military intervention.

The debate about climate change has been polluted by a lot of politics and ideology run amok.

Military leaders who lead troops into battle do not have the luxury of playing such games. Commanders whose decisions have life-and-death consequences base their threat assessments on facts and trend lines.

The facts and trend lines of climate change have led a number of America’s most distinguished military leaders to spotlight the security risks that climate change will bring.

General Gordon Sullivan, former Army Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, former deputy Chief of Naval Operations, and others tell us that climate change is a "threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world."

Climate change is closely linked to energy, and our energy habits bring other risks.

Oil dependence entangles the U.S. with hostile regimes and increases the risks of involvement in geopolitical conflicts.

Just yesterday, the International Energy Agency released its annual World Energy Outlook, which said that as the economy recovers, oil demand will increase, which will increase dependence on the OPEC cartel. That’s where the world’s biggest reserves are.

As General Sullivan and Admiral McGinn have warned, we must act now to reduce climate and energy risks. We must put a price on carbon and diversify our energy portfolio.

We call on our U.S. senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, to work together in good faith to pass legislation that will reduce carbon emissions and develop the low-carbon energy sources that we must have to ensure greater security for the nation that our troops honorably defend.

Thank you.