What do China, Russia, bubonic plague and global warming have in common? They are among the top threats to U.S. national security, according to the U.S. government.
One year into the Trump administration, what are the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military? This is the third installment of THREAT WEEK, our brief series spotlighting some of the Pentagon’s biggest obstacles ahead of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Secretary of Defense James Mattis vowed that the Department of Defense would take the national security challenges posed by climate change seriously, despite the President Donald Trump’s well-documented skepticism on the matter. But a new government report suggests the Pentagon isn’t taking all the necessary steps to address climate’s impact on readiness worldwide — and the delay may be rooted in a delicate dance by DoD officials to reconcile its security concerns with the White House’s firm opposition to mainstream climate research.
When President Donald Trump addressed the other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last week, he shocked them by demanding member countries pay their dues — even though they don’t have dues. But even worse, Trump ignored Article 5, the idea that an attack against one member is an attack on all. When you fail to mention a NATO founding principle — which has been invoked only once in the alliance’s nearly 70-year history, to support the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks — that’s the diplomatic equivalent of egg on your face.
