"Climate change is a 'threat multiplier'

Speaking at the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas in Arequipa, Peru on Monday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel outlined the challenges that climate change presents to the military and national security. Hagel spoke at a news conference on Saturday in Santiago, Chile, outlining his address at the Defense Conference on Monday. He noted that climate change will have a significant effect on the security environment, pointing out that as sea levels rise, so will security threats. He spoke of natural disasters, and the potential for threats, such as law and order and people taking advantage of a catastrophe. Possibly the most important part of his address will be the potential security risks to all nations with the opening of the Arctic Sea. “We see an Arctic that is melting, meaning that most likely a new sea lane will emerge,” he said. “We know that there are significant minerals and natural deposits of oil and natural gas there. That means that nations will compete for those natural resources.” The Arctic hasn't been an issue before, noted Hagel. “You couldn't get up there and get anything out of there,” he added. “We have to manage through what those conditions and new realities are going to bring in the way of potential threats.” On January 31, 2010 it was reported by the Guardian that the Pentagon, in their quadrennial defense review would rank global warming as a threat to national security. The draft of the review also said that global warming was a destabilizing force that added fuel to conflict and put American troops at risk around the world. This early warning review was overshadowed by polls showing a mostly complacent public opinion over climate change. But the Pentagon put climate change on the same level as political and economic factors as the primary factors that shape the world. That the heads of our military even bothered to look at climate as being a factor in global security at all was due only to the foresight of Senators Hillary Clinton and John Warner. In 2008, the two senators suggested that the Pentagon look specifically at global warming in their next annual review.