MORE FROM ADM. McCONNEL ON GLOBAL WARMING

Spy Chief Backs Study of Impact of Warming
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: May 12, 2007
NY Times

WASHINGTON, May 11 — Stepping into the middle of a partisan debate on Capitol Hill, the United States’ top intelligence official has endorsed a comprehensive study by spy agencies about the impact of global warming on national security.

In a letter written earlier this week to the House Intelligence Committee, the official, Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, said it was “entirely appropriate” that the intelligence community prepare an assessment of the “geopolitical and security implications of global climate change.”

The House also passes a bill paying for an NIE about global warming:

Chairman Reyes Leads Passage of Intelligence Authorization Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 11, 2007
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2082, the fiscal year 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-TX, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement on passage of the bill:

(excerpt)


"Our request for a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the national security impact of climate change does not divert resources from higher-priority items. We heeded the advice of eleven former three- and four-star admirals and generals who have studied this issue and recommended an NIE. They believe that significant changes in global climate may act as a ‘threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.’"