Later today, a group of 11 senior retired Generals and Admirals will release National Security and the Threat of Climate Change.
These senior retired officers include previous skeptics, Republicans, Democrats, and are all respected (highly) by the military community.
This report, months in the making, could spark some real soul searching among the US military -- too many of which remain too open to arguments from Global Warming skeptics.
From the press release announcing the report:
Global climate change presents a serious national security threat that could affect Americans at home, impact U.S. military operations and heighten global tensions, according to a study released today by a blue-ribbon panel of retired admirals and generals.
The study, "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change," explores ways projected climate change is a "threat multiplier" in already fragile regions of the world, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states—the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism.
Washington Post article Sunday ...
"Climate change exacerbates already unstable situations," former U.S. Army chief of staff Gordon Sullivan told Associated Press Radio. "Everybody needs to start paying attention to what's going on. I don't think this is a particularly hard sell in the Pentagon. ... We're paying attention to what those security implications are."
Gen. Anthony "Tony" Zinni, Bush's former Middle East envoy, said in the report: "It's not hard to make the connection between climate change and instability, or climate change and terrorism."
This is important ... getting the 'security hawks' onboard could help move the United States toward more sensible policies and help drown out the skeptic and denier message from institutions like Heritage, CEI, and Newsweek ... and, well, The Washington Post which had to have a cautionary note thrown in ...
Top climate scientists said the report makes sense and increased national security risk is a legitimate global warming side-effect.
The report is "pretty impressive," but may be too alarmist because it may take longer than 30 years for some of these things to happen, said Stanford scientist Terry Root, a co-author of this month's international scientific report on the effects of global warming on life on Earth.
That quote seems clearly intent at undercutting the message and providing 'balance' ... it isn't so urgent, let's hold off and study more ...
In any event, I plan to read this report when released ... as should others ... it should provide useful material for battling skeptics and deniers ...