Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to the Washington Post, Climate Skeptic Will Happer will be part of a team President Trump is assembling a White House committee to scrutinise wild climate change claims being presented by government agencies.

White House prepares to scrutinize intelligence agencies’ finding that climate change threatens national security

By Juliet Eilperin and Missy Ryan

February 20 at 5:00 AM

The White House is working to assemble a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a conclusion that federal intelligence agencies have affirmed several times since President Trump took office.

The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security, which would be established by executive order, is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director. Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant.

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In late November, Trump dismissed a government report finding that global warming is intensifying and poses a major threat the U.S. economy, saying, “I don’t see it.” Last month, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, testified that he did not see climate change as one of the world’s pressing challenges.

According to the NSC discussion paper, the order would create a federal advisory committee “to advise the President on scientific understanding of today’s climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States.”

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Read more (paywalled): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/20/white-house-climate-change-national-security-panel

I saw Will Happer speak when I attended a Heartland conference. My guess is when this new committee becomes official, government employees who have made dodgy climate claims about national security in government reports will have a lot of questions to answer.

Actions have consequences.