Navy Official Discusses Climate Change Investment Strategy: "A number of recent strategic Defense Department documents have recognized that the changing climate may affect national security and military operations later in the century.
This is particularly true for the globally deployed U.S. Navy, and investments to address climate challenges may need to be made, the service's oceanographer said during a 'DoDLive' bloggers roundtable June 18.
'We're going to have to fold these challenges into a tight fiscal budget,' said Navy Rear Adm. David W. Titley, who also serves as director of the Navy's Task Force Climate Change. He explained that it is important not only to know what investments are right to meet future requirements, but also to know when to make them."
"We want to basically pace the threat," Titley said. "We don't want to get into a tail chase over climate change, but at the same time, ... we do not want to spend ahead of need, spending for things that may not be required for years or decades later."
Titley explained that to define the scope of needed investments the Navy will conduct capabilities-based assessments, which he described as foundational studies to determine the requirements for such things as force structure, infrastructure, command and control and communications. "We're doing one of these capabilities-based assessments for climate change in general, and another one focused specifically on the Arctic," Titley said.
Titley said the assessments were timed to coincide with the Navy's program objective memorandum for fiscal 2014.
