Podcast: Climate Change and Global Security

Friday, June 25 5:34 pm

Neil Morisetti, Anthony Broccoli, Dennis McGinn, and Andrew Nagorski at the American Museum of Natural History. © R. Mickens/AMNH

This Tuesday, June 22, several hundred people gathered at the American Museum of Natural History for a fresh examination of climate change. A group of academic and military experts explained why any discussion about global warming should include a broader look at the implications for long-term global security.

“What often does not come across in the discussions of climate change…is that the militaries of the U.S., the U.K., and other countries have for a long time operated on the assumption that climate change is something that you have to deal with,” began moderator Andrew Nagorski of the EastWest Institute. “Whatever the causes, the consequences [of climate change], you have to factor it into your planning.”

Panelist Vice Admiral (Retired) Dennis V. McGinn could not agree more. As a member of the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board, he participated in writing National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (2007) and Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security (2008). To McGinn, the conversation about climate change before the two reports were issued had been a deadlocked back-and-forth between environmentalists and business interests. But “the effects of climate change will act as a threat multiplier in the most volatile parts of the world, [and]…a recipe for more military action,” said McGinn. “Our posture is a serious threat to our national security militarily, diplomatically, and economically, and that vulnerability can be used by those who wish to do us harm.”

Listen to the Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 25 mins, 98.4 MB)

Another military voice on the panel was that of Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, climate and energy security envoy of the U.K. Ministry of Defense and Foreign Commonwealth Office. Morisetti pointed out that the U.K. military has a carbon budget and that adapting to the changing world quickly is critical. “Our responsibility is to look after national security of our citizens today and in the future,” he said. “We need to adapt our capability to deal with the changes that will come with climate change.”

Atmospheric scientist Anthony J. Broccoli, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, rounded out the panel. The symposium was sponsored by the British Consulate-General New York to raise awareness of the current environmental challenges facing the polar regions and the globe.

Dennis McGinn Discusses Climate Change and National Security

Thursday, June 17 10:59 am

Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn USN (Ret.), CNA Military Advisory Board, will be a featured speaker at the panel Climate Change: the Threat and Opportunity for Global Security at the Museum on June 22.  He recently answered some questions about the connection between climate change and national security.  Make sure to visit the News section later for another Q&A with McGinn’s co-panelist, UK Climate and Energy Security Envoy Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti.

The connection between climate change and national or global security is a key part of the larger debate. What is that connection?

First, that the likely conditions created by climate change—droughts, floods, extreme weather events, loss of coastal regions, reduced water supplies, crop failure and potential pandemics—will act as a “threat multiplier” for instability in volatile regions of the world. Second, the destabilizing effect of these stressful conditions on fragile governments and societies will cause them to fail, creating a growing need for U.S. military missions ranging from humanitarian assistance to peacekeeping to conflicts over resources in regions critical to U.S. national security.

What are some recent examples of the implications of climate change for national security?

Failed states create a fertile breeding ground for organized crime, paramilitary forces and extremists. Two present examples are the Darfur region of Sudan and the failed state of Somalia. If the destabilizing effects of climate change go unchecked, we can expect more frequent, widespread, and intense failed state scenarios creating large scale humanitarian disasters and higher potential for conflict and terrorism. The effects of climate change can significantly magnify and accelerate regional pressures on long-standing tensions along political, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines. This is a recipe for failed states and societies which, in most cases, will lead to conflict.

The Department of Defense and national intelligence communities recognize this clear link between climate change, national security, and instability and have begun strategic plans and programs to both mitigate and adapt to the most likely and serious effects in key areas around the globe.

You argue that our current reliance on fossil fuel for energy affects us diplomatically, economically, and militarily.  How so, and what are the best alternatives?

Our current overreliance on fossil fuel is a serious and urgent threat to our national security. Diplomatically, the fact that we use of 25 percent of the oil produced every year and only control 3 percent of the known oil reserves undermines our moral authority and national leverage with other nations as we attempt to solve serious international issues.

Economically, we send more than $ 1 billion dollars each day to foreign countries, some of them unfriendly to our national interests, to pay for our oil addiction, thereby undermining our domestic economy. And militarily, we pay an enormous price in lost lives and national treasure to put our troops in harm’s way around the world, in many instances primarily to ensure the free flow of oil. Read more »