National Security Implication of Global Warming Policy - Paperback

by U. S. Army War College (Author)

Although numerous historical examples demonstrate how actual climate change has contributed to the rise and fall of powers, global warming, in and of itself, is not our nation's greatest climate threat. Rather, the greatest climate threat to national security is the world's perception of climate change and the resulting governmental and intergovernmental policies enacted to reduce the theorized anthropogenic greenhouse warming. As governments become convinced that global warming is universally bad and humans are the primary cause, political leaders may develop ill-advised policies restricting US access and use of global energy supplies, weaken the US economy, and unfairly advantage rising developing nations. These three actions could combine to threaten United States security by reducing our relative national power in comparison with rising nations. Rather than adopting multilateral policies aimed at reducing the carbon emissions of developed nations, the United States should continue to resist adopting Kyoto Protocol type policies to preserve our national wealth to better fund Homeland Defense and national security.