Is global warming the new al-Qaeda?

"The projections lead us to believe that severe weather events will increase in intensity in the future, perhaps in frequency as well." - Amanda Dory, deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy

Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change

by TOM GJELTEN
NPR
December 14, 2009

Global warming is now officially considered a threat to U.S. national security.

For the first time, Pentagon planners in 2010 will include climate change among the security threats identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Congress-mandated report that updates Pentagon priorities every four years.

The reference to climate change follows the establishment in October of a new Center for the Study of Climate Change at the Central Intelligence Agency.

But the new attention to climate concerns among U.S. security officials does not mean the Pentagon and the CIA have taken sides in the debate over the validity of data on global warming. As with nuclear terrorism, deadly pandemics or biological warfare, it only means they want to be prepared.

"I always look at the worst case," says one senior intelligence official who follows climate issues. "Whether it's global warming or the chance of Country A invading Country B, I just assume the most likely outcome is the worst one."

(More here.)