Butterfly Effect: Why Spies Need to Focus on Climate Change

Sep 15, 2021 | Charu Sudan Kasturi
View Original

When President Joe Biden and 40 other world leaders gathered for a virtual summit on climate change organized by the U.S. in April, the list of speakers had an unlikely name on it: Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

“For the intelligence community, climate change is both a near-term and a long-term threat that will define the next generation,” she said, addressing the group.

It’s extremely rare for America’s top spy to speak to a giant gathering of foreign leaders — especially one that includes the country’s biggest strategic rivals. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were in Haines’ audience.