It seems the role of Science and Scientists, on the national political stage, is all the rage lately. Rick Perry and his dim-witted competition, may be in a race for the "I'm with Stupid" Vote ...
-- When all the while, the Military Planners that they would dare to lead, are in a different kind of race, altogether. They're in a race to plan for the terrible Human Chaos that Climate Change, is sure to bring this Planet. In larger and larger doses; year after year.
Better put on those Running Shoes, Rick ... Some exceptional American Generals have a few "strategic warnings" for you ... whether "your scientists" care to deny them or not ...
National Security and Climate Change
Global climate change presents a serious national security threat which could impact Americans at home, impact United States military operations and heighten global tensions, according to a new study released by a blue-ribbon panel of retired admirals and generals from all branches of the armed services.
[...]
The report includes several formal findings:
-- Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security.
-- Climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.
-- Projected climate change will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world.
-- Climate change, national security and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges.
The report also made several specific recommendations:
-- The national security consequences of climate change should be fully integrated into national security and national defense strategies.
-- The U.S. should commit to a stronger national and international role to help stabilize climate changes at levels that will avoid significant disruption to global security and stability.
-- The U.S. should commit to global partnerships that help less developed nations build the capacity and resiliency to better manage climate impacts.
-- The Department of Defense should enhance its operational capability by accelerating the adoption of improved business processes and innovative technologies that result in improved U.S. combat power through energy efficiency.
-- DoD should conduct an assessment of the impact on US military installations worldwide of rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and other possible climate change impacts over the next thirty to forty years.
Wow. Maybe the Military Planners, still trust in Science, unlike many you'll find on the airways, in GOP Presidential Debates, and far-too-often in Congress too.
Perhaps Military Planners don't have time for all that "Kicking the can down the road BS". Afterall the Military has a Job to do. The Military thinks Global, thinks BIG, -- that's sort of their Mission. It spans the world, does it not?
Congress people ... not so much. They have a decidedly "different Mission Statement" ... which spans mainly their Career options.
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Here are those reports, which outline The Climate Change Threats that Presidential wantabees might what to skim through, in between campaign stops. Perhaps each Congress person should get a "coffee-table copy" too? You know, to impress the Riff-Raff ...
NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE -- Report Briefing
NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE -- Full Report
Source of Reports:
S e c u r i t y A n d C l i m a t e . c n a . o r g
[the longer report starts off with one sober warning for its readers ...]
To the reader,
During our decades of experience in the U.S. military, we have addressed many national security challenges, from containment and deterrence of the Soviet nuclear threat during the Cold War to terrorism and extremism in recent years. Global climate change presents a new and very different type of national security challenge.
Over many months and meetings, we met with some of the world’s leading climate scientists, business leaders, and others studying climate change. We viewed their work through the lens of our military experience as warfighters, planners, and leaders. Our discussions have been lively, informative, and very sobering.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are greater now than at any time in the past 650,000 years, and average global temperature has continued a steady rise. This rise presents the prospect of significant climate change, and while uncertainty exists and debate continues regarding the science and future extent of projected climate changes, the trends are clear.
The nature and pace of climate changes being observed today and the consequences projected by the consensus scientific opinion are grave and pose equally grave implications for our national security. Moving beyond the arguments of cause and effect, it is important that the U.S. military begin planning to address these potentially devastating effects. [...]
The decision to act should be made soon in order to plan prudently for the nation’s security. The increasing risks from climate change should be addressed now because they will almost certainly get worse if we delay.
[signed by ... some very serious people ... ]
General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA (Ret.)
Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Chairman, Military Advisory Board
Admiral Frank “Skip” Bowman, USN (Ret.)
Former Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program;
Former Deputy Administrator-Naval Reactors, National Nuclear Security Administration
Lieutenant General Lawrence P. Farrell Jr., USAF (Ret.)
Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force
Vice Admiral Paul G. Gaffney II, USN (Ret.)
Former President, National Defense University; Former Chief of Naval Research and Commander,
Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command
General Paul J. Kern, USA (Ret.)
Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command
Admiral T. Joseph Lopez, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and of Allied Forces, Southern Europe
Admiral Donald L. “Don” Pilling, USN (Ret.)
Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
Admiral Joseph W. Prueher, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and Former U.S. Ambassador to China
Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, USN (Ret.)
Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command
General Charles F. “Chuck” Wald, USAF (Ret.)
Former Deputy Commander, Headquarters U.S. European Command (USEUCOM)
General Anthony C. “Tony” Zinni, USMC (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
Sherri W. Goodman
Executive Director, Military Advisory Board
Chairman, Military Advisory Board
The CNA Corporation -- Study Team
David M. Catarious Jr.
Ronald Filadelfo
Henry Gaffney
Sean Maybee
Thomas Morehouse
Who is the CNA Corporation, that helped the Pentagon put all their Climate Change ducks in a row?
CNA is a non-profit research organization that operates the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research.
CNA's objective, empirical research and analysis helps decision makers develop sound policies, make better-informed decisions, and manage programs more effectively. We take a multi-disciplinary, field-based "real world" approach to our work, and provide public-sector organizations with the tools they need to tackle the complex challenges of making government more efficient and keeping our country safe and strong.
Here is a related site the continues to track ongoing Climate-related Security issues and studies:
secureamericanfuture.org
This story summarized the Pentagon conclusions, and points to that previous report that has "put Climate Change threats" on their long-term logistical maps:
Climate Change and National Security: Pentagon Says Global Warming Is Real and Is Planning for the Worst
By Richard A. Kujawsk, livinggreenmag.com -- 2010
Some of the specific challenges that the military is planning for include:
-- Storms and rising oceans endanger bases in the U.S. and overseas. [...]
-- Melting Arctic ice cap is exposing a sea of problems. [...]
-- Droughts, floods, and storms will increase the global need for relief. [...]
-- Mass migrations of weather refugees and food/water shortages will foster terrorism and political unrest. [...]
All of this has been known since 2007, when a landmark report on climate change and national security was published by the CNA Corporation (www.cna.org), a think tank in Alexandria, VA. The report, "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change," [linked earlier] was written by the Military Advisory Board (MAB), consisting of six retired admirals and five retired generals. The report warns that global warming poses a "serious threat to America's national security" and that “The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide and the growth of terrorism.”
[...]
This month, the U.S. Department of Defense will present to Congress its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. In the report, the Pentagon will officially identify climate change as a national security threat.
(Maybe they should present this to Congress AGAIN -- it takes them SO very long to "catch on" sometimes.)
The Dept of Homeland Security, however are a different story. They are always on the lookout for new "Real Threats" to monitor ...
Global Warming is Now Officially Considered a Threat to U.S. National Security
Blog Home -- Homeland Security Digital Library
by atrach on Mon, 02/01/2010
For the first time, Pentagon planners in 2010 will include climate change among the security threats identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Congress-mandated report that updates Pentagon priorities every four years.
Here's that recent Defense Review Report on National Security and Threat Assessments ... it is really amazing how often they mention -- and HOW SERIOUSLY -- they are taking, the many problems expected result from the Global problem of Change Climate:
2010 Quadrennial Defense Review
February 2010
Executive Summary [pg 9]
Other powerful trends are likely to add complexity to the security environment. Rising demand for resources, rapid urbanization of littoral regions, the effects of climate change, the emergence of new strains of disease, and profound cultural and demographic tensions in several regions are just some of the trends whose complex interplay may spark or exacerbate future conflicts.
[pg 20]
Crafting a strategic approach to climate and energy: Climate change and energy will play significant roles in the future security environment. The Department is developing policies and plans to manage the effects of climate change on its operating environment, missions, and facilities. The Department already performs environmental stewardship at hundreds of DoD installations throughout the United States, working to meet resource efficiency and sustainability goals. We must continue incorporating geostrategic and operational energy considerations into force planning, requirements development, and acquisition processes.
[pg 96]
The QDR focused on four specific issues where reform is imperative:
security assistance, defense acquisition, the defense industrial base, and energy security and climate change.
[pg 107]
Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy
Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.
[pg 108 -- and even the Army is Going Green ...]
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In 2008, the National Intelligence Council judged that more than 30 U.S. military installations were already facing elevated levels of risk from rising sea levels.
[...]
Domestically, the Department [DoD] will leverage the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, a joint effort among DoD, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency, to develop climate change assessment tools.
[...]
As climate science advances, the Department will regularly reevaluate climate change risks and opportunities in order to develop policies and plans to manage its effects on the Department’s operating environment, missions, and facilities.
Managing the national security effects of climate
As climate science advances, the Department will regularly reevaluate climate change risks and opportunities in order to develop policies and plans to manage its effects on the Department’s operating environment, missions, and facilities. Managing the national security effects of climate change will require DoD to work collaboratively, through a whole-of-government approach, with both traditional allies and new partners.
Wow! The Climate Change THREATS are urgent enough, are serious enough, are REAL enough, to get some serious planning and attention NOW, in order to insure America's National Security LATER. And that's according to the Defense Dept. Simply Amazing! (How little, Americans here about this "National Threat" ...)
One Question, WHEN were they planning to tell the rest of us?
WHEN are they going to Tell the Republican Party?
WHEN are they going to Alert the Media?
This new National Threat of Climate Change has kicked the Military Planners into Long-term "Strategery mode".
It hardly sounds like a "theoretical matter" now does it, Mr Perry? Those General-guys sound kind of serious.
Perhaps "Reality" will trump "Science Skepticism" some day in GOP-land. No Doubt. The Problem will be, by then it'll will be too late to do anything to minimize the Human collateral damage, that is already unfolding around the world. Whether Al Gore reports on it or not.
CO2 levels just keeps going up, Up, UP ...
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Even as the IQ of the average American keeps going down, down, down. Must be all that Home-Schoolin' ... that Keeps Leaving Established Science Behind ...
Shocking steep slope, ain't it Rick? (kind of like your Odds for Winning it all, eh?)
Just because you think all this global warming/climate change stuff is "a scientific theory that has not been proved" -- Well that really DOESN'T STOP Climate Changes from happening anyways. Sorry Rick, Reality doesn't work that way.
Sometimes Reality will sneak up on you and kick your butt anyways, no matter what you say or do. Just ask those Generals you hope to lead. Ask them if THEY care what Science might have to say about this Global Threat to our National Security.
Ask the Farmers and Ranchers of your own home state of Texas, suffering through the worse Severe Drought in decades -- Ask them if THEY care what Science might have to say about this Global Threat to their Local Security. To the Economic well-being of their Families, of their Communities, to their Futures ...
Here's a Hint for Wantabee Republican CEO contenders:
"Just because you 'Close your eyes' ... it really DOESN'T make the Bad Stuff go away."
Sooner or later, you will always have to Open your eyes again. Sorry, all that Sciency Stuff, will still be there ... waiting. Waiting for your smartest adviser to explain it to you.
Facts are funny, that way ... heh, heh.
Psst. GOP Advisers: the CO2 goal is 350 parts per million. The really "bad stuff" kicks in around the Mid-400 Level.
And guess what, them damn 'fudging Scientists' THEY ain't the ones pouring CO2 in the Air. It us Humans, burning those endless supplies of Fossil Fuels, who are responsible for that trick. Check your SUV exhaust. Just check all those tapped out Texas Oil Wells. ... You just ain't gonna Drill, Drill, Drill, you're way out of this mess ... you may Need a few Scientists for that Trick, before were done.