Please prepare a summary/response for ‘Half of the US Military’s Sites are Vulnerable to Climate Change. Now what?
Introduction
The article ‘Half of the US Military’s Sites are Vulnerable to Climate Change. Now what? is authored by Caroline Houck, the staff correspondents of Defense Once and was published in 31st Jan 2018. The paper mainly highlights how military sites are vulnerable to climate change.
Summary
According to the report published by Caroline Houck, the staff correspondents of Defense Once (2018), disruption to the airfield operations is one of the most commonly cited reason behind the change in climate and profound impact on the ground transportation and energy infrastructure. The report also highlighted that the change in climate is a national security issue with significant impacts over the missions, installations and the operational plans. A proper understanding of change in the climatic conditions will help the military services and other defense agencies to execute their missions accordingly. For example, the defense personnel can downed their power lines from frequent thunder storms and then stacking them against each other to carry forward their mission.
The article also highlighted the importance of mitigation analysis over each spot in order to figure out that specific steps can be under taken to address the issue of climatic and thereby reducing the damage. However, there is a difference in opinion about the change in climate among the defense personnel. In 2014, Quadrennial Defense Review highlighted climate change along with a detailed discussion of threats posed but the same priority highlights are lacked in the post of National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy.
Response
The article provides adequate evidence of what is happening in the domain of defense and how it is effecting the environment along with the lack of awareness among the defense officials.
Comment
The article is useful in understanding how US Military sites is vulnerable to climatic change and what actions are required to be undertaken in that field.