POLITICS FEBRUARY 28, 2019 / 8:00 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

White House drafts guidelines for panel questioning climate threat to security

Timothy Gardner
4 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is advancing plans to form a presidential panel that will question science used in U.S. military and intelligence reports showing that human-driven climate change poses national security risks, according to a source briefed by participants in the negotiations.

The National Security Council at the White House has been considering the formation of a climate panel that would likely be headed by William Happer, a retired Princeton University physics professor who says greenhouse gas emissions are good for the planet and who lacks a background in climate science.

Happer said on CNBC in 2014 that the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has been demonized, “just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.”

The NSC held a meeting on Feb. 22 to discuss the 12-member panel. Next the NSC will likely send participants a document for comment, the source said. Then there will likely be a deputies’ meeting and a cabinet meeting before President Donald Trump puts forward an executive order calling for the panel.

Trump has repeatedly questioned whether humans are causing climate change and has been angered by reports from his military and intelligence agencies that storms, droughts and floods made worse by climate change pose national security risks. Trump’s administration has pursued policies to boost output of oil, gas and coal and roll back emissions limits on power plants, cars and trucks.

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