WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday October 16, Pennsylvania State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe wrote to the entire Pennsylvania state legislature that any veteran associated with Operation Free is a “traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution” and a “Benedict Arnold.” Operation Free, a coalition of national security and veterans organizations whose goal is to raise awareness about the links between climate change and national security, denounced Rep. Metcalfe’s incendiary remarks.

“It’s a shame that Representative Metcalfe would stoop to such slander,” said Jon Powers, Iraq veteran and member of Operation Free, “especially when America’s national security professionals in the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the National Intelligence Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency have all decided that climate change is a security threat that must be dealt with seriously and honestly. I wonder if Representative Metcalfe would label those organizations as traitors.”

Operation Free’s “Veterans for American Power” bus tour will be stopping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this week:

WHERE: City Hall, Room 202 (Mayor’s Reception Room), Intersection of Market and Broad St.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 21, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Several agencies of the United States government and non-partisan think tanks have issued reports or launched investigations on the national security effects of climate change:

• The Pentagon will include a climate section in the Quadrennial Defense Review, due in February and the State Department will include climate change in its new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. (New York Times, August 8, 2009)

• In 2008, a National Intelligence Assessment from the National Intelligence Council said “global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for US national security interests over the next 20 years.” (Senate Testimony of Dr. Thomas Fingar, June 28, 2008)

• In fall 2009, the CIA announced plans to launch a center on climate change to examine the security risks of environmental issues. (CIA Website, September 25, 2009)

• In 2007, 11 retired flag officers released a report that argued that “Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America’s national security” and “climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.” (CNA, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, 2007)

• According to the American Security Project, “Addressing the consequences of changes in the Earth’s climate is not simply about saving polar bears or preserving the beauty of mountain glaciers. Climate change is a threat to our national security. Taking it head on is about preserving our way of life.” (Climate Security Index, 2009)

• According to former Senator John Warner (R-VA), a veteran and former Secretary of the Navy, “Leading military, intelligence, and security experts have publically spoken out that if left unchecked, global warming could increase instability and lead to conflict in already fragile regions of the world. If we ignore these facts, we do so at the peril of our national security and increase the risk to those in uniform who serve our nation.” (Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee)

• In its 2006 National Security Strategy, the administration of President George W. Bush notes the Department of Defense’s 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, which calls for preparing for “natural disasters that produce WMD-like effects” – exactly the type of threat posed by climate change. (Council on Foreign Relations, November 2007)

For more information about climate change, national security, and Operation Free’s efforts to raise awareness on these critical issues, please visit www.operationfree.net, and to meet Operation Free veterans on our ongoing national bus tour, please visit http://www.operationfree.net/on-the-bus/ or contact Keven Kennedy at 202-276-3159 or Christina Angelides at 617-233-5948.

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