John Kerry

at the Oceans summit happening today and tommorow.

Speaking today at the State Department at the “2016 Our Ocean Conference,” President Barack Obama said that a “healthier planet” is vital to U.S. “national security” and that he has conversations about climate change “in the Situation Room.”

“But one thing that we all owe to [Secretary of State] John [Kerry] is his conviction that a healthier ocean and a healthier planet are about more than just our environment; they are also vital to our foreign policy and to our national security,” said Obama. “So he has elevated the profile of climate change, ocean protection to the point where we have conversations about this not just in the Oval Office, but in the Situation Room.”