Beyond the Eye of the Storm: Mapping Out a Comprehensive Research Agenda for the National Security Implications of Climate Change

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD), including the Department of the Air Force (DAF), has been late to assess the full potential of climate change to affect U.S. national security. While such issues as base resilience or disruptions to logistics flows are studied extensively, climate change is not just a series of isolated extreme weather events. It is a long-term, global phenomenon with the potential to alter political, economic, and social systems in ways that could have far-reaching effects on U.S. security interests. This concept paper lays out a research agenda to pursue in order to better understand the possible scale and scope of these effects and their potential implications for the DAF and DoD. Pursuing this research agenda would enable the DAF and DoD to be better prepared for a greatly altered future with more and more impacts slated to arrive over the next ten to 20 years (see Figure 1).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2024
Accession Number
AD1223296

Entities

People

  • Bryan A. Frederick
  • Caitlin Mcculloch

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Strategic Security Studies