Hegseth Orders Elimination of Climate Defense Planning, but Still Wants Extreme Weather Preparation
The Defense secretary aims to purge climate work from the Pentagon. But critics say his carve-out for weather resiliency misses the point
U.S Air Force airmen drive through flood waters caused by Hurricane Matthew at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in October 2016 in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
US Air Force Photo/Alamy Stock Photo
CLIMATEWIRE | A new memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubles down on his campaign to eliminate the Pentagon’s work on climate — calling for a review of both mission statements and military planning documents to ensure there are no “references to climate change and related subjects.”
But the missive, issued Monday, identifies several key exceptions.
It makes room for efforts to harden U.S. military installations against extreme weather. And it says the climate purge shouldn’t stop the Pentagon from “assessing weather-related impacts on operations, mitigating weather-related risks (or) conducting environmental assessments,” according to the document obtained exclusively by POLITICO’s E&E News.
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Those exceptions, critics say, underscore the shortsighted nature of Hegseth’s attack on what he calls the “climate distraction.”
Global warming is intensifying extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires. And the rapid transformation of Earth is altering the Pentagon’s mission in ways both big and small.
A hotter planet is raising the possibility of conflict in areas that could lose access to resources such as water. And more dangerous extreme weather events can affect military operations and deal massive damage to military bases and equipment.
“We design military facilities and buildings to last 50 years,” said Will Rogers, who served as the senior climate adviser to the secretary of the Army in the Biden administration.
“The climate is going to be different 50 years from now,” he added. “You don’t want to base it based on the weather tomorrow.”
Rogers warned the new memo could have a chilling effect, too, on military officials who plan for high-risk situations, including extreme weather conditions. And he said it could deter career staff from preparing U.S. armed forces for a changed planet Earth.
Those concerns, however, haven’t deterred Hegseth, who has made it a priority to root out “woke” policies in the military. There is now a Pentagon-wide initiative to ensure the “elimination of ‘Climate’ distraction,” according to the memo.
In a video released on X on Thursday, Hegseth announced the DOD had cut a total of $800 million in what he deemed “wasteful spending.” Some of that money — possibly up to $100 million worth — went to climate-related work, including an effort to decarbonize Naval ships and scientific research into climate conditions fueling unrest in Africa.
“They are not a good use of taxpayer dollars,” he said.
His memo closely follows Project 2025, the conservative policy proposal overseen by the Heritage Foundation.
The document describes the Defense Department as a “deeply troubled institution” because it has a “pervasive politically driven top-down focus on progressive social policies that emphasize matters like so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion and climate change, often to the detriment of the Army’s core warfighting mission.”
But Hegseth’s memo goes further, said John Conger, who served as principal deputy undersecretary of Defense in the Obama administration.
And that kind of attitude could put future U.S. warfighters at risk, he said. As an example, Conger cited the changing ecosystem of the Arctic, where global warming has opened up new opportunities for travel in areas once covered in ice.
Russia and China both have significantly escalated their presence in the region. Refusing to prepare for a new Arctic landscape would put the United States at a disadvantage.
Conger added the Hegseth memo is so vague that it can be interpreted by Defense officials to blindly target a lot of useful programs that could be eliminated — even though they have nothing to do with cutting emissions or reducing fossil fuel use.
“They appear to be getting rid of climate by narrowing both the vocabulary and the definition,” he said.
The Defense Department did not respond to questions about the memo. But Hegseth’s assault on climate stands out, even when compared to President Donald Trump’s first term.
During the first Trump administration, senior Defense officials treated climate change as a threat multiplier. James Mattis, who served for a time as Trump’s Defense secretary, called climate change “a challenge that requires a broader, whole-of-government response.”
And the Pentagon has long incorporated climate science into its planning, operations and military readiness.
Climate science and modeling can save billions of taxpayer dollars by ensuring that military installations are prepared for rising sea levels, increased flooding, droughts, extreme heat conditions and other consequences of global warming.
Hegseth’s memo, however, sees it differently.
“‘Climate change’ related considerations are unrelated to the Department’s mission,” the memo states.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.