A new report from the Pentagon says climate change poses an "immediate risk" to U.S. national security.
The Hill says the 20-page report calls climate changes a "threat multiplier" and it has the potential to "exacerbate" challenges the U.S. faces like "infectious diseases and terrorism."
"Among the future trends that will impact our national security is climate change," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel writes in the report's introduction.
"Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe," he adds.
The report asserts that climate change "will affect" the Pentagon's ability to "defend the nation" and "poses immediate risks to U.S. national security," which is why the department is factoring impacts into everything from "war games" to "defense planning scenarios."
The Pentagon's response includes actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all of its operations
