Global warming--a national security threat?

A group of distinguished retired Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps brass writing for the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) has concluded that global warming represents a threat to the future security of the United States. In a report entitled National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, the admirals and generals claim: "Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States."

Echoing the recently released report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that global warming will disproportionately affect poor nations, the CNA report argues, "Projected climate change will seriously exacerbate already marginal living standards in many Asian, African, and Middle Eastern nations, causing widespread political instability and the likelihood of failed states."

The only way to head off this looming catastrophe, according to the report, is more internationalism. "The U.S. should commit to a stronger national and international role to help stabilize climate change at levels that will avoid significant disruption to global security and stability," the report says. Moreover, "The U.S. should commit to global partnerships that help less developed nations build the capacity and resiliency to better manage climate impacts,"

Never mind that the science of global warming is questionable; that doesn't matter to either environmentalists or internationalists for whom global warming is but a means to an end. In this case, CNA's generals and admirals would likely agree with former Canadian Environment Minister Christine Stewart who once said: "'No matter if the science is all phony, there are still collateral environmental benefits' to global warming policies.... 'Climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world.'"