Press Releases

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“Climate change is an existential threat to the planet, and is also dramatically affecting the national security threat landscape facing the country. Its impacts must be the subject of intense and sustained focus by the Intelligence Community. President Biden’s decision to order a national intelligence estimate – the Community’s preeminent type of assessment – on the national security implications of climate change is critical. 

“On our current trajectory, without immediate and dramatic intervention, communities worldwide will likely face great strain, dislocation, and conflict stemming from increased migration, growing risks of famine, rising seas, and other intersecting, mutually reinforcing trends that we might not anticipate. Whether it is the effect of climate change on sea lanes in the arctic or on resource scarcity in Yemen, the impacts on our national security are profound and need to be comprehensively analyzed. 

“The Intelligence Community has warned of these trends for more than a decade, and in recent years our Committee has pressed the Intelligence Community to elevate climate change as an intelligence priority. This estimate will help us to better understand the scope and scale of climate change’s deleterious effects on our national security in the coming years.  

“The Committee will continue to work closely with the Administration to ensure that the entire U.S. national security apparatus is focused sharply on the threat of climate change, and that we take action immediately.”

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