Date

Mar 10, 2009

Description

The 2009 Annual Threat Assessment is the first ATA to explicitly mention climate change as a U.S. national security concern under a new “Environmental Security” report section, representing the IC’s increased focus on the issue “as a result of unprecedented developments in the last year.” (p. 41) The statement only goes as far as to state that climate change will have “indirect” impacts to the homeland, such as increased migration levels and a worsening of “existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions.” (p. 43) According to Blair, mitigation and adaptation efforts—such as plans to reduce emissions— “may affect US national security interests even more than the physical impacts of climate change itself.” (p. 43)

Source

Office of the Director of National Intelligence / INTEL.gov

Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community for the Senate Armed Services Committee, Statement for the Record of Director of National Intelligence Denis C. Blair, 10 March 2009, [Unclassified]