The American Security Project’s work on climate change was recently highlighted by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in a speech on the floor of the Senate. In her speech, Senator Boxer praised two specific ASP resources; the Global Security & Defense Index on Climate Change (GSDI) and ASP’s “Climate Security Report” (CSR). Each resource was referenced in the Senator’s speech in a push to give climate change the attention it deserves from both policy-makers in Washington and the general public.

ASP agrees that climate change is a national security threat.  As Senator Boxer said, climate change poses a direct threat to American national security both at home and abroad and  requires a greater effort from the government in combating it. As Senator Boxer urged: “We must follow the analysis and advice of our Nation’s military leaders and national security experts to protect the American people by addressing the dangerous threat posed by climate disruption.”

ASP’s Climate Security Report and Global Security & Defense Index on Climate Change are available below:

Video (ASP mentioned at 4 hours 32 minutes) http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/transcript/transcript.php?id=218984

Relevant Excerpt from Senator Boxer’s Speech:

“The U.S. military is not alone in viewing climate change as a threat. A recent study found that over 70 percent of nations surveyed around the world view climate change as a national security threat. This is from the American Security Project: Global Security Defense Index on Climate Change, March 21, 2013.

Countries around the world recognize that climate change is a national security threat, but it is the U.S. military that must take a leading role. As one of America’s retired military leaders, former U. S. Navy Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, stated: 

Climate Change poses a clear and present danger to the United States of America ….. The imperative, then, is for leadership and action on a global scale. The United States must act. The United States must lead. This is from the November 1, 2012, “Climate Change and the Homeland,” American Security Project.

I could not agree more. We must follow the analysis and advice of our Nation’s military leaders and national security experts to protect the American people by addressing the dangerous threat posed by climate disruption. 

I want to show a few charts about what people are saying, and then I will stop. “The cost of inaction will be staggering.” This ran in March. 

The effects of climate change in the world’s most vulnerable regions present a serious threat to American national security. Countries least able to adapt to or mitigate the impacts of climate change will suffer the most, but the resulting crisis will quickly become a burden on U.S. priorities. Both the Department of Defense and State Department have identified climate change as a serious risk to American security and an agent of instability.

This is a very bipartisan group. It is actually mostly Republicans on this, of people saying do something about this. Our national security is at stake. 

When there are refugees who are run out of their country, what is going to happen to the world? There already are climate refugees.”

Further ASP Resources on Climate Change can be accessed below.

• Preliminary Results: The Global Security and Defense Index on Climate Change, March 2013
• 2012 Climate Security Report, November 2012
• Climate Change, The Arab Spring and Food Prices, November 2012
• Military Basing and Climate Change, November 2012
• Pay Now, Pay Later, February 2011
• Climate Change and Immigration: Warnings for America’s Southern Border, September 2010
• Climate Security Index, September 2009
• National Survey on Global Warming, March 2009

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