On Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s administration said climate change can “force” military invention after once again calling it a “national security issue.”
John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said during a press conference that climate change is a “driver of actual missions” because it creates “instability” and “insecurity.”
“It’s a driver of actual missions, because climate change creates instability, which creates insecurity in some places. And you can end up — the fighting in Syria started, really, as a result of a drought. And so, there’s — there’s a — it can actually drive military missions and force the military to become involved in places and at times where they wouldn’t have had to otherwise,” Kirby said.
Kirby said climate change impacts the U.S. military’s readiness “because our — our troops, our sailors, our Marines, our airmen, our Coast Guardsmen are being called out for — to respond to natural disasters, which are getting worse because of climate change.”
He also claimed that climate change can “affect our infrastructure,” adding that military bases like Norfolk Naval Base have invested “millions of dollars to try to improve their infrastructure because of rising sea levels.”
“So it has an impact on our infrastructure. It has an impact on our readiness, because you — and you’re seeing it now, even in the wildfires, where so many National Guardsmen are being called out,” Kirby said. “And — and God love them for that, but they’re — those are important tasks and missions, but it takes away from other tasks and missions when it comes to defending the United States.”
Kirby said President Biden believes climate change is a “very important issue for our own national security.”
“And we’re going to — we’re going to treat it that way,” he concluded.
On Wednesday, Biden announced new executive actions to combat climate change, including allocating $2.3 billion in funding for a program that he claimed will “help communities increase resilience to heat waves, drought, wildfires, flood, hurricanes, and other hazards by preparing before disaster strikes.”
The Biden administration’s expensive focus on climate change comes as Americans struggle to put food on the table amid skyrocketing inflation. Over the last year, inflation has risen 9.1 percent — the largest spike in nearly 40 years.
A stunning 93 percent of American voters are “concerned” about inflation, including 67 percent who said they are “extremely concerned” and 25 percent who said they are “very concerned,” a recent Fox News poll showed. Another 52 percent of voters believe it will get worse over the next year.
