James Mattis Admits Climate Change Is a Threat
In an unpublished testimony to the Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense James Mattis called climate change a security threat for which United States military leaders need to prepare, ProPublica reports. “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” Mattis wrote to the committee after his confirmation hearing. This marks the first time Mattis has said that climate change is a real and current threat as a member of the Trump administration—an assertion that puts him at odds with many of his new colleagues.
Reince Priebus, Trump’s Chief of Staff, confirmed in November Trump’s default position that man-made climate change is “a bunch of bunk.” Priebus himself has said that “radical Islamic terrorism, rather than climate change, is the biggest threat to national security.”