Army Strong

A number of Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Community documents have mentioned climate change over the years. This includes the research papers of students engaged in Professional Military Education, technical reports and tools by organizations such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, or reports (sometimes a tad too perfunctory) in response to requirements from Congress or political leadership.

As far as I know, however, the new report from the U.S. Army War College, "Implications of Climate Change for the U.S. Army," is the first official, comprehensive report by a military organization for a military organization. According to one of the report's authors, whom I spoke to yesterday, the Chief of Staff of the Army requested this report. Even a quick skim raised my eyebrows. On page 24, for example: "Climate change is a common cause linking a disparate set of challenges, but we currently have no systemic view to assess and manage risk." "We," in that case, refers to the U.S. government more broadly, not just the Army. Well, Hooah, as they say. On the same page, the report declares: "there is an ongoing need for improved interagency collaboration between intelligence, defense, and civilian agencies on climate change data collection, analysis, and forecasting." Double Hooah. There are also clear and concise recommendations, which range from how to handle new hydration requirements in contested, arid environments to the need for a stronger culture of environmental stewardship to the importance of climate change-oriented campaign planning and preparation. This is a matter-of-fact, practical look at how the Army can — and should — think about climate change.

And then there's the conclusion. To a casual observer, this section may be a bit mystifying: it muses on everything from Operation Barbarossa in WWII to a children's book called The Bear that Wasn't. I interpreted this as a gentle, somewhat circuitous, and sort of moving attempt to explain why the Army, the Pentagon, and our entire country aren't where we should be on climate change and why it's important to move forward now. Here's the concluding paragraph:

It is doubtless correct that many awful things that have not happened before will yet happen. Foresight regarding such events would be nice. It would be nicer still if we could recognize more quickly what is happening right in front of us. That is the right starting point for thinking strategically about the warming climate.

Three Hooahs for the Army War College and its thoughtful report. There should be a download icon next to this post if you want to read it for yourself — there doesn't appear to be a link on the War College's site yet.