National Security Significance of a Changing Climate: Operationalizing Climate Security

This conference explores the operationalization of climate security within the U.S. geographic combatant commands. In less than one year, the national security apparatus has rapidly mobilized to answer the myriad of ways climate change affects national security. The Department of Defense (DoD) has recently released the DoD Climate Risk Analysis (DCRA) and DoD Climate Adaptation Plan (DCAP) as the initial steps toward charting future DoD actions regarding climate security considerations.

How the DoD fights and wins wars in the future will depend on our best understanding of how climate change will affect the areas in which we operate. Within the broader context of strategic competition, we seek to achieve integrated deterrence through the strength of our jointness and our partnerships—with other agencies as well as our partners and allies. The changing climate will further complicate strategic, operational, and tactical dynamics of national security.

As the regional leadership for conducting joint military operations around the world, geographic combatant commands are on the front lines of “Operationaling Climate Security.” While climate is mainstreamed across the DoD, this conference seeks to ask geographic combatant commands how climate risk will be incorporated into their mission, strategy, planning, and operations. As such, a J-4 and J-5 team from each geographic combatant command to talk about how they are integrating climate change.

Videos from this event include:

• NSSCC OCS: Keynote and Panel 1 - Central Command
• NSSCC OCS: Panel 2 - European Command and Africa Command
• NSSCC OCS: Panel 3 - Southern Command and Northern Command
• NSSCC OCS: Panel 4 - Indo-Pacific Command
• NSSCC OCS: Entire Playlist