In HASC Hearing, Crow Pushes Sec. Esper, Gen. Milley to Define Impact of Climate Change on National Security

During today's House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense, Rep. Jason Crow called on Secretary Esper and General Milley to state whether climate change was a threat to our national security. Both Esper and Milley acknowledged the threat climate change poses to our military installations, the impact it could have on destabilizing regions of the world, and the risks it creates for vulnerable populations. Their remarks follow the 2019 report by the U.S. Army War College which outlined the risks posed by climate change including the collapse of domestic power, water, and food systems.

Watch footage of Rep. Crow's questioning here.

Crow has made addressing the impact of climate change on our national security a top priority while in Congress. In December, his Military Installation Resilience Assuredness (MIRA) Act was signed into law as part of the NDAA. The MIRA Act requires the military to plan for climate change in installation master plans and recognize authoritative sources for data for extreme weather projection, a move that comes as the Trump administration delegitimizes scientific sources. Last week, Crow spoke as the senior U.S. official at the Munich Security Conference on the release of the World Climate Security Report.

Please find the committee transcript below.

Rep. Crow: Secretary Esper, do you believe that climate change is real?

Sec. Esper: Yes, I do, congressman.

Crow: Do you believe it is a threat to our national security and to our military?

Esper: I don't believe it's a threat to our national security as I've traditionally defined it. I do believe it's a challenge for military installations that are confronted with the impact of climate change.

Crow: Do you believe the well-established threat of refugees, increased pandemic, instability and increased terrorism that could result from all that instability pose additional challenges for us from a national security perspective?

Esper: They do, it's a chain of events that create certain situations, we see that in many conflicts, you know, over time, it's happened.

Crow: So destabilization and mass migration of refugees does pose a threat to our national security?

Esper: It could create the situation by which we are encountered with a national security matter that could involve the military; But that's a series of ifs and whens and this's and thats.

Crow: General Milley, do you agree with that characterization?

Gen. Milley: I think climate change is real and I think it's probably going to result in increased destabilization. With resource depletion, water and things like that. You're going to see increases in diseases. There's a lot of second and third order effects, and does it impact on U.S. national security, yes, it does.

Crow: Do you believe that we're making the efforts to address those increased threats?

MIlley: I think we're making reasonable efforts, yes.

Crow: Do you believe there could be more we could be doing to address the threats?

Milley: Right now, in terms of the international peace, no. In terms of our basing and infrastructure here at CONUS, which was one of the previous questions, I think we've got to look at all our infrastructure to make sure it can withstand things like rising seas, increased storms and so on and so forth. That is a level of effort DOD has been pushing.

Chairman Smith: The Gentleman's time has expired

Crow: Thank you Mr. Chairman, I yield back.