U.S. Military Looks at Climate Change and National Security

Here’s a 68-page report from 2007 on the impact of climate change on American national security, created by a team of 11 retired generals and admirals. Though I didn’t read every word, I found no real surprises here, other than perhaps the unanimity of voice which they write about the urgency of the issue. The report lays out the imperative for the U.S to take action domestically and internationally to stem an enormous tangle of inter-related effects that jeopardize the nation and its ability to protect itself.

When someone who looks like one of the beat poets of the 1950s says we need to take action to mitigate climate change because of national security issues, that’s one thing. When a four-star general says it, that’s another.