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Military Basing and Climate Change

Catherine Foley November 2012

Climate change not only aﬀects our security through its impacts on the economy and our physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports, etc.); it also can also aﬀect domestic and international military bases as ﬂooding, drought and extreme weather events intensify. Physical changes to the environment may disrupt U.S. military capabilities and facilities, such as military training ranges or bases.

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According to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review , there are a number of US military installations that are already at risk. Te report says:

“In 2008, the National Inte lligence Council [NIC] judged th at more than 30 U.S. military installations were already facing elevated levels of risk from rising sea levels. DoD ’s operational readiness hinges on continued access to land, air, and sea training and test space.”

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Although sea-level rise is a major concern, other environmental threats must be taken into consideration in order to keep our military installments safe and secure. We tend to look at environmental threats on an individual, case-by-case basis, which does not take the plethora of threats into account. According to Cleo Paskal,

“Te NIC’s 2008 focus was primarily sea level rise. However, considering ﬂooding threats alone, coastal sites may be aﬀected by sea level rise, but also subsidence, river ﬂooding, unusually heavy rainfall, and dam bursts.”

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