National Intelligence Report warns of Climate Change
“Implications for US National Security of Anticipated Climate Change”, a recent report by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) identifies two big risks to US national security: extreme weather events and ‘systemic’ changes like sea level rise.
Over the next five years, the report identified extreme weather events as the focus of concern, including heatwaves, droughts, heavy precipitation, and storms.
Looking ahead out to twenty years, the risk of isolated extreme weather events continues, made worse by fundamental changes such as rising sea level, with economic impacts, devastation of communities, infrastructure, mass migrations, destabilization, and humanitarian challenges, both domestically and internationally.
While this is not any kind of revelation to those of us who look at these issues, it is good to see them being considered at the level of those who look “over the horizon” for things that could threaten our national security. The NIC was established in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, to coordinate the work of all the intelligence agencies, including the FBI, CIA, and NSA.
Amid all the headline allegations by the Intelligence agencies, and the pushback from the incoming administration, it is important to remember that we have thousands of analysts sifting data, working to identify long-term threats. While concerns about Russia, our elections, and hacking may be the major news, lower-level stories can have great significance too.
The public, non-classified, version of this report is ten pages and can be downloaded at: “Implications for US National Security of Anticipated Climate Change”.