Enabling a more flexible integration of the Coast Guard and the Navy deserves further consideration specifically for the security of the Arctic region. Typically, national security threats are understood as competitive state actors with varying capacities that may span conventional, nuclear, and cyber domains, as well as non-state actors, which may adopt asymmetric strategies. This instability may provide fodder for terrorist organizations, which are adept at exploiting instability to recruit foot soldiers for extremist causes.6. When considering natural or environmental conditions such as climate change, however, threats must be understood from a wholistic perspective: any factor that has the capacity and ability to impede a state’s objective may be threatening, regardless of intent. Each presidential administration must submit the report to Congress every year, unless a waiver is granted. His research focuses on critical theoretical approaches to security and their application to environmental change, Australian security policy, climate politics, and security dynamics in Asia and the Pacific. St. Martin’s Press: New York, NY 1994. frequency of intense storms in the future). Learn about the impact and consequences of climate change and global warming for the environment and our lives. U.S. National Security. The United States continues to be involved in myriad international conflicts: military operations in the Yemen; trade policy jousting with China; and an increasingly consequential Arctic becoming a new arena among Great Power competitors. The “New Era” 1991 national security strategy of President George H.W. “Russia is Testing Nuclear Weapons at Remote Artic Bases, Despite Global Ban, U.S. Says,” Newsweek, May 30, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/russia-nuclear-weapons-testing-arctic-us-claims-low-yield-ban-1439109, 31 Houghton, Vince, “The U.S. Military bases, particularly those Army bases that support large amounts of armored and tracked vehicles in the coastal states of Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina, are under threat. Climate change was first publicly recognized as a major concern for the Pentagon in May 1990, when the U.S. Climate Events and National Security Outcomes. Implications of climate change for Australia's national security On 14 June 2017 the Senate referred the following matter to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 4 December 2017: Implications of climate change for Australia’s national security. A budget that is explicit in addressing this tension is necessary. Budget debates are focused on fifth generation fighter jets and upgrading the nuclear triad, but neither will matter if the United States does not have capacity to project power or maintain basic security in a world made unstable by the climate. These effects will have particularly important security implications for major legacy hydrocarbon producers and countries that invested heavily in energy exploration and infrastructure during the 21st-century commodity boom (2002 to 2014). “Shift the Coast Guard to DoD,” Proceedings, 143, No. National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, CNA Corporation, Alexandria, Va. 2Testimony of ADM Joseph Prueher, USN (Ret. A terror attack, he explains, captures everyone’s attention and is a visible security threat. Implications for US National Security of Anticipated Climate Change Key Points “Carter: Return to Sequestration Biggest Threat to National Security,” Military, 2016. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/17/carter-return-sequestration-biggest-threat-national-security.html, 5 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, H.R. A new Arctic strategy needs to be integrated into the broader national security and defense strategies; otherwise the United States’ overall security will be undermined by competition from rival states in the Arctic. Climate changes uniquely affects U.S. Northern Command, whose mission is protecting the homeland, and in particular Alaska and other northern territories, from potential state actors seeking to spy on, invade, or disrupt the United States.29 Given their aspirations in the Arctic, Russia and China are the obvious regional competitors. U.S. National Security. Indeed, both the congressionally-mandated 2018 National Climate Assessment (NCA) and United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports make clear that … In recent documents the Trump Administration has notably prioritized great power competition with China and Russia over terrorism, evidenced by changes in budget, resources and engagement.33 Yet the Trump administration neglected to acknowledge climate change as a threat in the National Security Strategy.34 This decision is problematic: by omitting particular threats that do not conform to a narrative, the administration constrains its own worldwide threat assessment. The accelerating rate of decline in Arctic sea ice, which has now reached 12.8 percent over each decade relative to the 1981-2010 average, has enabled more military and economic activity in the region.1 In order to better understand the national security implications of climate change, three topics must be explored: (1) the changing definition of threats; (2) budget prescription and flexibility, and; (3) developing new approaches towards a changing Arctic. Since 1991, during each presidential administration climate change has been mentioned in the national security strategy, and in most cases directly addressed. While climate scientists have been aware of the effect of carbon emissions on average worldwide temperatures for several decades, the 2010s have seen consecutive hottest years on record, along with storms, droughts and wildfires of intensifying power and destructiveness. 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