Ex-U.S. military chiefs warn warming worsens security

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global climate change acts as a “threat multiplier” in some of the world’s most volatile areas, and raises tensions even in stable regions, 11 former U.S. military leaders warned on Monday.

To combat this, they urged immediate planning and international cooperation without waiting for total certainty on the consequences of global warming.


“We can’t wait until we have absolute certainty,” retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, a former U.S. Army chief of staff, said at a briefing where the report was released. “We know that we never have 100 percent certainty and … if we wait, we might wait too long.”

The military leaders’ assessment of the national and international security risks posed by global warming was made public on the eve of the first debate in the
U.N. Security Council on climate change.

Reuters