Center for a New American Security

Yesterday, CNAS hosted Rear Admiral Philip Cullom, Director of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Readiness Division, and Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the U.S. Navy, for Climate Change, Energy, and Maritime Security: Promoting the Dialogue. Representatives from the military, Capitol Hill, the Executive branch, other research organizations, and the private sector joined us for this off-the-record conversation, which focused on how the maritime services and those who work with them are thinking about energy security and climate change issues. It was a great conversation in which a few overarching themes were clear.

First, many of the Navy’s leaders not only care about climate change and energy security, but also want their service to be forward-thinking on both issues and provide leadership for the country. Second, participants seemed to take a holistic view of these problems. All aspects of the problem are actively considered, from reducing  fuel dumping by aircraft, to using lower-carbon fuels, to better rewarding men and women in uniform for environmental stewardship. Notably, participants emphasized that they saw energy security and climate change as inseparable parts of a single challenge – an idea that has gained acceptance in recent years but which is still challenged at times. There is significant collaboration between the Navy’s Task Force Climate Change and Task Force Energy, led by our two guest Admirals, showing that the Navy is active in linking energy and climate issues.

There was little discussed about the tactical implications of climate change. Although the rates of ice melting and of the increasing acidification of the ocean were mentioned as concerns, there was little discussion of how exactly they will affect U.S. maritime missions. This was in large part due to the lack of fidelity on these effects: we can’t in all cases tell yet with a high degree of certainty what specific ice is going to melt where and when, and what the exact effects will be. Climate models are improving rapidly (and the Navy is working with NOAA to increase the level of detail of climate effects so that it can plan better against them). Instead, the Navy seems now to be planning out exactly how they will want to use that kind of information in their planning when it becomes available. Because we also don’t want to find out the reality of extreme climatic changes, the group also discussed at length how the services can work to cut emissions in the near term and over the long term.

It was great to host a discussion in which there was no debate about whether climate change posed a threat to U.S. national security. There was broad recognition that this new strategic environment will create new security challenges, and that the status quo is not viable in the long term. And to end on a positive note, one participant also contributed a somewhat optimistic view that as we gain more clarity on how the Earth is likely to change, we can look for opportunities to work with other countries and to secure the homeland, not just look to the challenges. Indeed, that is a critical piece of security we too often forget.

Photos: From top to bottom, RADM Philip Cullom and RDML David Titley. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy.