Pentagon Issues Scary Climate Security Report, as Russia Lays Claim to Vast Arctic Territory

Aug 5, 2015 | Eric Holthaus
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Global warming could turn the Arctic into a 21^st-century battlefield, and the United States isn’t prepared. That’s the key takeaway from a new Pentagon report on the national security risks of climate change that, for the first time, looks region by region around the world from the standpoint of military commanders.

The report provides a consensus estimate of climate change’s security implications from each of the four-star generals who lead the military’s six regional combatant commands around the world. Though the appraisals differ by region, the report says they “share a common assessment of its significance.”

According to the Pentagon, which issued its report last week, “a changing climate increases the risk of instability and conflict overseas.” Military policy experts have said this before, but according to Marcus King, an expert on climate change and national security at George Washington University, the current report comes from “a warfighter’s perspective, and that’s a different perspective than has been brought to the debate.”