Armed Forces Community Takes Up Global Warming Cause: It's an Ugrent Matter of National Security

By Bill Becker, Climate Progress. Posted May 18, 2009.

Today's CNA report reminds us that national security is also an essential pillar of prosperity. It's a pillar that should appeal to even the most conservative members of Congress -- some of whom believe that protecting national security is the only legitimate responsibility of the federal government.

In fact, it's a pillar that every member of Congress -- Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, green or otherwise -- has sworn to uphold. Every two years, all members of the House and one-third of the members of the Senate take the following oath of office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God

The Constitution they swear to defend begins with this statement:

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Climate change and our fossil-fueled economy undermine every one of these aspirations.

In case it isn't obvious, the link between energy policy, climate and national security -- now well established by those in the best positions to know -- makes the Waxman-Markey bill the real Patriot Act. Whatever deals must be made to get it through Congress, the bill must remain sufficiently strong to bring about a responsible but rapid and revolutionary transformation in the world economy. It must set a high standard for the rest of the developed world. It must provide unmistakable evidence to developing nations that the United States is ready to be accountable for its carbon emissions and to help raise the world's people from poverty with clean and sustainable energy technologies.

Anyone who tries to weaken the bill's ability to meet those tests is, quite simply, undermining our national security.

Author’s Note: In addition to Adm. McGinn, members of the CNA’s Military Advisory Board – responsible for the new report (but not for my conclusions) — are Air Force Gen. Chuck Wald, former Deputy Commander of the U.S. European Command; Adm. T. Joseph Lopez, former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Naval Forces Europe; Gen. Gordon Sullivan, former Chief of Staff of the Army; Gen. Robert Magnus, former Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps; Air Force Gen. Charles Boyd, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Headquarters, U.S. European Command; Lt. Gen. Lawrence Farrell Jr., former Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. air Force; Gen. Paul Kern, former Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Gen. Ronald Keys, former Commander, Air Combat Command; Adm. John Nathman, former Vice Chief of Naval Operations and Commander of U.S. Fleet Forces; Read Adm. David Oliver Jr., former Principal Deputy to the Navy Acquisition Executive; and Vice Adm. Richard Truly, former NASA Administrator and former Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. More articles about the national security implications of climate change and energy policy are listed by CNA at http://securityandclimate.cna.org/news/.

See more stories tagged with: global warming, climate change, national security, waxman-markey, climate bill, climate legislation

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Environment! Sign up now »