Peter H. Gleick
It is vital to understand the history of U.S. intelligence and military assessments of the security implications of climate change. These assessments go back more than six decades to the 1960s and since that time, hundreds of assessments have been produced looking at the impacts of human-caused climate change, water resources, and environmental factors, from every U.S. defense, intelligence, and security agency.
Earlier versions of this review were published here, but an update in April 2025 expanded the annotated bibliography considerably, and now three separate posts are available:
These links provide a long, annotated list of major assessments by national defense, security, and intelligence agencies to address the risks to U.S. national and international security of climate change, water resources, and the environment. These documents and statements reflect only materials available in the unclassified literature. Additions to this list will be made as new information becomes available.
Part 1. Climate Change, Water, the Environment and National Security: An Annotated History of U.S. Defense, Intelligence, and Security Assessments (Part 1: to 2010). https://www.gleick.com/blog/climate-change-water-the-environment-and-national-security-an-annotated
Part 2. Climate Change, Water, the Environment and National Security: An Annotated History of U.S. Defense, Intelligence, and Security Assessments (Part 2: 2011 to 2018). https://www.gleick.com/blog/climate-change-water-the-environment-and-national-security-an-annotated-6214fd89-b743-4f28-9d45-66042ad22048
Part 3. Climate Change, Water, the Environment and National Security: An Annotated History of U.S. Defense, Intelligence, and Security Assessments (Part 3: 2018 to the present). https://www.gleick.com/blog/climate-change-water-the-environment-and-national-security-an-annotated-1aa7481b-f3af-476b-89ee-1ae82c3341d0
Peter Gleick
March 2019; June 2019 update; April 2025 update
