The Pentagon was due yesterday to rank global warming for the first time as a destabilizing force, adding fuel to conflict and putting US troops at risk around the world, in a major strategy review to be presented to Congress.
The Quadrennial Defense Review, prepared by the Pentagon to update Congress on its security vision, will direct military planners to keep track of the latest climate science, and to factor global warming into their long-term strategic planning.
“While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world,” said a draft of the review seen by the Guardian.
Heatwaves and freak storms could put increasing demand on the US military to respond to humanitarian crises or natural disaster. But troops could feel the effects of climate change even more directly, the draft says.
More than 30 US bases are threatened by rising sea levels. The report ordered the Pentagon to review the risks posed to installations, and to combat troops by a potential increase in severe heat waves and fires.
The review’s release coincides with a sharpening focus in the American defense establishment about global warming — even though polls last week showed the public is increasingly less concerned.
The CIA late last year established a center to collect intelligence on climate change. This month, CIA officials sent emails to environmental experts in Washington seeking their views on climate change impacts around the world, and how the agency could keep tabs on what actions countries were taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our dependence on fuel adds significant cost and puts US soldiers and contractors at risk,” Deputy US Undersecretary of Defense for the Environment Dorothy Robyn said. “Energy can be a matter of life and death and we have seen dramatically in Iraq and Afghanistan the cost of heavy reliance on fossil fuels.”
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