(NewsNation) — While most of the focus of Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing was on a reported leak of war plans on a group chat, another issue was the omission of climate change from an annual threat assessment.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, noted that he has been on the committee for 13 years, and until 2025, every single threat report has mentioned global climate change as a threat to national security.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard rejected the idea that it was intentionally omitted.
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“I can’t speak to the decisions made previously, but this annual threat assessment has been focused very directly on the threats that we deem most critical to the United States and our national security,” Gabbard said.
King pressed her on the ways climate change could be a risk to security. He cited mass migration, famine, dislocation and political violence resulting from climate change, something mentioned in the 2019 threat assessment during the first Trump administration.
“Do you consider that a significant national security threat for the intelligence community?” King asked.
Gabbard repeated that she focused the threat assessment on the most extreme and critical threats to national security.
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King pressed her on whether she specifically directed climate change to be excluded. President Donald Trump has directed efforts to combat climate change to be dismantled, and many federal websites that mention climate change have been removed to align with his priorities.
“I don’t recall giving that instruction,” Gabbard replied.
