Pete Hegseth's Climate Change 'Crap' [View all]

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/pete-hegseth-climate-change-crap-national-security-military-strategic

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH said Sunday that the DoD “does not do climate change crap,” implying the department should focus solely on training and war-fighting, and anything else is a distraction. While it may be a pithy soundbite, it reflects a dangerous blind spot—and contradicts a fundamental strategic principle.

Many people in the military, possibly even Hegseth himself, are familiar with Sun Tzu’s famous statement: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.” Many fewer remember the following lines: “if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.” Perhaps Sun Tzu was speaking metaphorically, but the rest of The Art of War is supremely practical, and any good soldier knows that terrain and weather—and, yes, climate—can be key allies or stern enemies.

As a combat commander in Iraq during the 2007 “surge,” I experienced firsthand how climatic conditions can disrupt operations. I had planned a ten-day operation involving a U.S. task force, and special operations forces, and five Iraqi Army divisions in northern Iraq. As we were about to kick off, we were hit by severe dust and sandstorms—“shamals” and “haboobs”—intensified by prolonged drought. (It was just about the same time that the National Intelligence Council was working on its first ever report on climate change, which found a likelihood of “increase of heat waves and droughts (both in frequency and intensity).” These storms canceled air operations, grounded reconnaissance platforms, blinded intelligence collectors, delayed maneuvers, and severely degraded communications. It became clear to everyone in our command: climate change wasn’t background noise—it was an operational variable. The weather forced us to delay a major tactical operation against our enemy for weeks; the climate made it more likely that more such operations would be delayed or canceled in the future.

That’s just one example—there are plenty of others from every service, domain, and combatant command to illustrate why climate change is a strategic issue that demands the attention of the secretary of defense. Sea level rise, storm surges, and extreme weather events increasingly threaten mission-critical infrastructure. Naval Station Norfolk—the world’s largest naval base—now experiences frequent tidal flooding that disrupts operations and damages infrastructure. Other key installations like Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Key West face similar vulnerabilities. In 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base suffered $4 billion in hurricane-related damage.

*snip*