TreesOfLife
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32344842/ns/technology_and_science-the_new_york_times
Climate change seen as threat to U.S. security
Issue could become central in Senate debate over energy legislation
An Air Force B-52 bomber takes off from Diego Garcia Air Base in 2001. The U.S. base could be at risk from changes wrought by a warming planet.
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By John M. Broder
updated 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.
Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.
Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.