White House Plans Panel To Assess If Climate Poses Security Threat

"The White House is working to assemble a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a conclusion that federal intelligence agencies have affirmed several times since President Trump took office.

The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security, which would be established by executive order, is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director. Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant.

The initiative represents the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to question the findings of federal scientists and experts on climate change and comes less than three weeks after Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats delivered a worldwide threat assessment that identified it as a significant security risk."

Juliet Eilperin and Missy Ryan report for the Washington Post February 20, 2019.

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"Climate Change An 'Imminent' Security Threat, Risk Experts Say" (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Source: Washington Post, 02/20/2019