Press Office

News and Opinion Editorials

Print this page
Print this page


New York Times: C.I.A. Climate Center Irks Barrasso

New York Times


October 6, 2009


By John M. Broder


Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times “This is reinventing the wheel,” said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, referring to a new C.I.A. climate center.

Senator John Barrasso, a conservative freshman Republican from Wyoming, said on Tuesday that he would try to stop the Central Intelligence Agency from opening a new climate change center by choking off its funding.

“The C.I.A. is responsible for gathering foreign intelligence information for the United States,” Mr. Barrasso said in announcing an amendment to a 2010 spending bill to block any money being spent by the agency on the new office. “I don’t believe creating a center on climate change is going to prevent terrorist attacks.”

The agency announced late last month that it was creating a Center on Climate Change and National Security to look at how droughts, rising seas, mass migrations and competition for resources could affect the nation’s military and economic priorities.

In a press release, the agency said it did not intend to duplicate scientific work done by other government and private institutions. Rather, the agency said, the new unit would advise policymakers as they negotiate and verify international environmental agreements, including whatever emerges from the 192-nation global warming talks in Copenhagen in December.

“Decision makers need information and analysis on the effects climate change can have on security,” said Leon Panetta, the C.I.A. director. “The C.I.A. is well positioned to deliver that intelligence.”

The small center will be led by specialists from the agency’s intelligence bureau and its directorate of science and technology. It will compile and distribute satellite imagery and other information that can help policy makers and scientists inside and outside of government understand global environmental phenomena.

Climate change is a relatively new area of study for the American intelligence community. The National Intelligence Council, which produces government-wide intelligence analyses, completed its first assessment of the national security implications of climate change just last year.

The unclassified report concluded that climate change would have significant geopolitical impacts around the world and would contribute to a host of problems, including poverty, environmental degradation and the weakening of national governments.

The assessment warned that the storms, droughts and food shortages that might result from a warming planet in coming decades would create numerous relief emergencies and put added strains on the American military.

Senator Barrasso said the intelligence community had enough challenges without taking on global warming.

“Is this climate change center going to make demands on the current C.I.A. bureaucracy?” Mr. Barrasso said in his press statement. “Will someone sitting in a dark room watching satellite video of northern Afghanistan now be sitting in a dark room watching polar ice caps?”

“This is reinventing the wheel,” he added. “We need to let the agencies tasked with monitoring climate change do their job. These agencies can provide the C.I.A. with any information they need.”

 






October 2009 News and Opinion Editorials


October 2009 News Clips
There are no records to display that match the provided criteria.

[Return to list of recent News Clips]