Former Security Officials To Trump: Stop Trying To Undermine Climate Science
President Donald Trump reportedly plans to convene a group of scientists to reassess the government’s earlier conclusions on climate change.
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Top former military and security officials are warning President Donald Trump that climate change is a threat to US national security.
On Tuesday, 58 former officials — including former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel — sent a letter to Trump voicing their objections to a reported group the White House plans to create to “dispute and undermine” threats posed by climate change. The Washington Post earlier reported on the letter.
“Imposing a political test on reports issued by the science agencies, and forcing a blind spot onto the national security assessments that depend on them, will erode our national security,” the officials wrote in the letter. “It is dangerous to have national security analysis conform to politics.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Climate change has become a serious concern in recent years. A United Nations report in October warned that the world can only afford to get 0.5 degree warmer and that “rapid and far-reaching” changes are needed to limit the temperature increase.
In February, the Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent found on a tiny island off Australia’s far north coast and the only mammal native to the Great Barrier Reef, was declared the first mammal to go extinct because of human-induced climate change.
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The letter told Trump he needs to listen what science and military officials are telling him.
“We urge you to trust and heed the analysis of your own national security agencies and the science agencies on which their assessments depend, including the 21 senior defense officials that have identified climate change as a security threat during your Administration,” officials wrote. “Let’s drop the politics, and allow our national security and science agencies to do their jobs.”
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