We have explored, at length, the basket of biophysical stressors climate change could produce. And we’ve looked at how floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, ocean acidification, coral degradation (and the list goes on and on) might impact our food security and lead to the displacement of a lot of people. But what does the climate crisis mean for national security? How does the intelligence community think about climate change?

Dr. Rod Schoonover is a member of The Center for Climate & Security Advisory Board. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Ecological Futures Group, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He served in the US Intelligence Community for ten years as the Director of Environment and Natural Resources at the National Intelligence Council and Senior Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the US Department of State.

On this episode, Dr. Schoonover joins Ross to discuss the foreign policy goals of the US and share his concerns around the current administration’s failure to call out anti-democratic values. He explains how the suppression of his written testimony for the House Intelligence Committee regarding the national security implications of climate change led to his resignation from the State Department. Listen in for Dr. Schoonover’s insight on what the US government should do to address the climate crisis and learn what could happen (from a security perspective) if we don’t take action on climate change.

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Resources:

Climate & Security Podcast

The National Intelligence Council’s 2016 Report: Implications for US National Security of Anticipated Climate Change

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Dr. Schoonover’s June 2019 Testimony for the House Intelligence Committee

‘White House Tried to Stop Climate Science Testimony, Documents Show’ in The New York Times

Dr. Schoonover’s June 2019 Statement for the Record on the National Security Implications of Climate Change

Dr. Schoonover’s Op-Ed in The New York Times

Holly Jean Buck on Reversing Climate Change EP103

Holly Jean Buck on Reversing Climate Change S2 Bonus

Matthew Yglesias on Reversing Climate Change S2EP35

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change by Michael T. Klare

Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans by Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.)