Warren, Sanders Urge Trump to Hire Homeland Security Advisor Who Recognizes Climate Change as National Security Threat
Warren, Sanders Urge Trump to Hire Homeland Security Advisor Who Recognizes Climate Change as National Security Threat
Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today sent a letter to President Trump urging him to hire a Homeland Security Advisor who takes seriously the role of climate change in triggering severe weather events that threaten the safety and security of our nation. The letter follows the recent resignation of Tom Bossert as Homeland Security Advisor and comes as the nation continues to recover from recent natural disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma.
The Homeland Security Advisor regularly attends meetings of the National Security Council and is responsible for overseeing the Administration's response to natural disasters, including hurricanes. Mr. Bossert, who served as Homeland Security Advisor since January 2017 until his resignation last month, had refused to acknowledge the overwhelming scientific consensus that human-induced climate change contributes to severe weather events.
In their letter, the senators highlighted the devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and criticized Mr. Bossert for comments in which he refused to acknowledge the role of climate change in triggering severe weather events. "These evasive comments defy logic when one considers that Congress observed unequivocally in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that 'climate change is a direct threat to the national security of the United States,'" the senators wrote.
Noting that hurricanes are likely to become more common and more intense due to climate change, the senators expressed concern about the risks posed by climate change to our national security. "Without a dedicated federal effort to reduce the quantity of greenhouse gasses that human activity releases into the atmosphere, climate change will continue to worsen and cause increasingly severe weather events, including hurricanes," the senators continued. "Climate change is having and will have a tangible and harmful impact on our national security and disaster readiness."
The senators called on President Trump to replace Mr. Bossert with an advisor who recognizes the role of climate change in severe weather events and other matters affecting homeland security.
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