Center for a New American Security

• The American Forces Press Service reports on the guided-missile frigate USS Thach’s mission to protect critical infrastructure and provide security for the Al Basrah Oil Terminal.
• India’s environment minister has stated that India and China would be forced to “respond very positively” if developed nations “call its climate change bluff” and reach goals of cutting emissions 40% from 1990 levels by 2020.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports that two of the Teton's largest glaciers are shrinking and could reduce "the water supply for nearby regions."
• The U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce have stated that the United States needs to have a climate change law on the books before international talks begin in Copenhagen in December.
• Scientific American examines the effects of warming ocean temperatures on sea life.

• BBC News examines growing competition over food, water, and energy resources.
• The New York Times examines the growth of China's solar power industry.
• The Guardian examines a controversial project aimed at building a massive hydroelectric dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to supply electricity to southern Europe.
• A study has concluded that passage of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill could result in a dramatic cut in U.S. fuel output.
• Mexico is looking to increase taxes to reduce its dependence on oil revenues in light of falling production.

• The American Forces Press Service looks at the ways the Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq is using energy efficiency as a cornerstone of building Iraq’s security capabilities.
• The Guardian examines how rising sea levels are threatening Egypt’s Nile Delta and “catastrophically” damaging the agricultural capacity of the country.
• In the run up to the Copenhagen talks, 10 African countries are meeting to adopt a common position on climate change and are expected to ask for billions of dollars in compensation for the damage to Africa caused by climate change.
• Analysts say that Iraq needs to offer higher returns to foreign bidders in its second round of awarding oil field contracts, after only netting one contract in the first round. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nippon Oil and partners may be set to win a contract to develop the super giant Nassiriya oilfield.
• The United States and China appear to be moving towards a deal on fuel efficiency.
• Reuters examines Europe’s ambitious plan to draw solar power from the Sahara desert.
• After several hundred MEND rebels turned in their weapons as part of a government-sponsored amnesty program, the militant group has suspended peace talks and is believed to be preparing for a new campaign.

In recent weeks a number of developments have been taking place within the armed services – in particular the Marine Corps and the Navy – to increase energy efficiency and develop alternative fuel technology.

The inaugural United States Marine Corps Energy Summit took place last week where top brass spoke to the necessity of reducing energy consumption. The operational energy demands of the USMC are huge: in one day in Afghanistan, U.S. Marines now burn through more than 800,000 gallons of fuel. In order to reduce threats to convoys that supply Marines’ logistics needs, such as fuel, Commandant of the Marine Corps General James T. Conway suggests greater battlefield energy efficiency.  His call is no empty rally cry; this week Marines in Afghanistan began the first ever energy audit in a war zone.

• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Canada's Arctic region to observe military exercises and promote Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
• The International Food Policy Research Institute has warned that the world food market is threatened by market speculation.
• New studies indicate that rising acidity in Arctic waters may be damaging fisheries.
• Bloomberg News reports that by 2050, summers in New York City will be hotter on average than summers in Atlanta currently are.
• Forbes Magazine reports that low natural gas prices and low demand for natural gas may force some producers to temporarily shut down wells.
• The New York Times reports that geothermal energy projects in Northern California are experiencing significant delays.

• Scientists at the Lawrence Liverpool National Laboratory, a national security laboratory, released a report reaffirming that climate models cannot explain global warming without accounting for human influence.
• Temerity and restrictions in Chinese financial markets may be holding the country back from investing in low-carbon technology and carbon offsets, Reuters reports.
• The Swiss government has provisionally approved a move to redraw the border it shares with Italy. The border originally stood on the Alpine glacier, but climate change has accelerated glacial melt and created ambiguity about where the current border lies.
• In line with scientific projections, the New Scientist reports that warming arctic waters have forced the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the sea floor.
• Time magazine profiles the continuing debate about geoengineering.  

• The Naval Air Systems Command fuel team is set to perform biofuels flight tests for the F/A-18 Super Hornet within the next year.
• Scientists have warned that Asian countries will likely face social unrest in the face of “chronic food shortages” due to water scarcity if water management practices do not improve.
• The New York Times reports on a dispute between Kenya and Uganda over access to a tiny island on Lake Victoria with access to fertile fishing grounds.
• Utah’s water supply is threatened by the shrinking of glaciers in the Teton Range.
• The Guardian examines how deforestation has left Haiti particularly vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes.
• The New York Times reports that Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, is hoping to take more direct control of the oil extraction process in its offshore fields.

• Canada is set to launch Operation Nanook, a series of military exercises in its Arctic region.
• The Marine Corps recently held an energy summit aimed at increasing sustainability and self-sufficiency, as well as reducing inefficiencies in current energy use.
• The UN’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, has warned that current climate negotiations are moving too slowly to reach a comprehensive deal at the Copenhagen Summit in December. U.S. lead negotiator Jonathan Pershing likewise noted that progress at the recently-completed Bonn round was “marginal.”
• New research indicates that Antarctica’s Pine Island glacier is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago.
• The San Francisco Gate examines the risks and benefits associated with geothermal power.

After surfacing through three feet of ice, crew from the USS Annapolis traverse the barren Arctic frost during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2009. ICEX 2009, which lasted two weeks, served to train submarine capabilities in the changing Arctic environment. As we discussed yesterday in depth, climate change is causing Arctic sea ice to retreat further and further. As sea ice shrinks, the possibility of the high north opening up as a viable sea route is becoming more likely and Arctic nations are beginning to take steps to increase their presence there. As competition between nations increases over resources in the Arctic, militaries are being tasked to evaluate and bolster their operating capabilities in the high north.

Photo: Courtesy of Petty Officer 1st Class Tiffini M. Jones, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense.

• Turkey is offering to send more water to Iraq, which is currently suffering from a severe drought, in exchange for Iraqi cooperation in cracking down on Kurdish rebels close to the Turkish border.
• Satellite imagery has revealed that parts of India are set to experience severe water shortages, with the water table falling by about 1.6 inches per year in some areas. Scientific American examines the issue in depth.
• Officials have warned that any climate deal emerging from Copenhagen will “be a flop” if it does not include increased commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
• The Mexican Energy Minister has warned that the country is set to suffer a drop in output this year by almost twice the rate predicted by state oil monopoly Pemex. Mexico also announced that it needs oil to maintain an average price of more than $70 per barrel in order to finance its investments in developing deep sea wells.
• The New York Times explores whether severe storms are actually becoming more frequent or if advancements in observation and analysis techniques have merely improved detection.

When I was a kid in the early 70s, one of my favorite Sesame Street features was a fun little musical game called “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others).” The objective was to choose from among four objects the one that didn’t fit with the others—like a bottle of Pierre-Jouet Fleur Rosé pictured alongside a Bud Light, a PBR, and a Billy Beer (personally, I would go with the PBR).

During my frequent forays into the national security community, I am often reminded of that little game while discussing the possibility that climate change might have legitimate links with national security. No matter how you slice it, most folks in the community can’t picture climate change as a mainstream security issue alongside nuclear proliferation, international terrorism, and weapons systems. But recently a fascinating change seems to be afoot. More and more, security and foreign policy wonks, practitioners, and commentators are including climate change in their lists of key security issues facing the United States. There are some striking examples coming from people and institutions that factor strongly into the national security discourse.

My Sesame Street analogy was shattered last week when a colleague alerted me to the Brookings Institution’s new publication, “How We're Doing: A Composite Index of Global and National Trends.” The purpose of the “How We’re Doing” index is to gauge the condition of the nation and the world with regard to “the American Constitution’s mandate that the government ‘provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.’” The index tracks various metrics for those three categories at the six-month mark in the last six presidencies, Carter through Obama.

Security scholarship underwent a well-known and tumultuous phase of introspection in the late eighties and early nineties, brought on by a fundamental restructuring of the international order. Out of the post-Cold War period came a discourse on the proper place of the environment in calculations of national security, and from that first wave of environmental security literature comes the conceptual framework behind the Natural Security Program. In due deference, today’s edition of Reading Old Magazines looks back to consider the two sides of that turn-of-the-last-decade debate as represented by Jessica Tuchman Mathews’s “Redefining Security” and Daniel Deudney’s “The Case against Linking Environmental Degradation and National Security.”