Continued Navy Concern over Arctic
The United States Navy drew attention to its continuing concern over climate change in a recent Stars and Stripes article highlighting security and readiness concerns raised by rapid Arctic ice melt. According to NOAA projections, Arctic summers may be completely ice-free by 2030. That is startlingly soon.
The prospect of iceless, unregulated Arctic waters opening for trade and military vessels has raised concern with the Center for Naval Analysis report on “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change“. Beyond the potential for competing claims straining relations between Arctic-bordering countries (e.g. the oft-invoked Russian flag-planting two summers ago), the Navy “could be faced with providing maritime security for a new ice-free Arctic and a commercial shipping boom on par with the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca.”
According to Rear Adm. David Titley, commander of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, “we are living in a world where climate change is a reality and the Arctic may change more than other oceans. It is not an ‘if’ question but a ‘when’ question.”
To that we might add a further ‘when’ question: when will our government start listening to the host of military and scientific experts calling for action, and provide legislative and operational means to protect US national security in a changed global land- and seascape?
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“To that we might add a further ‘when’ question: when will our government start listening to the host of military and scientific experts calling for action, and provide legislative and operational means to protect US national security in a changed global land- and seascape?”
I keep asking this question on every Climate post you folks put up, but I never get an answer. What “means” do you want? It is all fine and nice to say that the government is taking no action, but such a statement really does not mean anything. It carries no intellectual weight at all.
So please, tell me, what it is you think the government should do to prepare our security forces for a warmer world? Lets move out of the world of complaints and into the world of solutions.
T. Greer —
‘complaint’ is hardly the word. ASP seeks to draw attention to – and has actively advocated specific ways to address – the challenges posed by climate change since the conception of its climate security program. Read our 2008 report, A New American Arsenal, for further insight into our policy proposals. (https://www.americansecurityproject.org/issues/reports/new_american_arsenal)
Also, you are welcome to attend our climate security conference on 10 Sept — and be sure to keep an eye out for the release of ASP’s Cimate Security Index later this month.
JB.