Date

Jun 25, 2008

Description

In place of the 2008 National Intelligence Assessment on the National Security Implications of Global Climate Change to 2030, Dr. Thomas Fingar testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. The hearing allowed Democrats and Republicans to question Fingar and other witnesses on the newly completed, but still classified, NIA.

Domestically, Fingar warns of severe water scarcity in the Southwest, increasingly frequent wildfires, and powerful storms on the East and Gulf coasts, which could threaten nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and U.S. military installations. The testimony also discusses potential impacts on the military, which Fingar notes would find its capacity overstretched from disease outbreaks, food scarcity, and land clashes, and having to help alleviate increasingly common humanitarian emergencies around the world.

According to Fingar’s testimony, the NIC would plan to analyze three subtopics in greater detail: the security risks of climate change for individual countries; cooperation and competition among the world’s great powers, including the United States, Russia, China, and India; and the linkage between national security and possible climate change mitigation strategies.

Source

The Center for Climate & Security

Document published in following posting(s):

The Climate Intelligence Assessment the Government Doesn’t Want You to See

Feb 28, 2025