NSSCC OCS: Panel 2 - EUCOM and AFRICOM
Channel: U.S. Naval War College
Date: 2022-03-22

Panel 2: European Command and Africa Command
Moderator: 
Dr. Naunihal Singh, Associate Professor, National Security Affairs Department,
U.S. Naval War College
Panelists:
• Mr. Gary Russ, J44, EUCOM
• Commander Jacob Cass, J5/8, EUCOM
• Mr. Garth Anderson, Environment and Operational Energy, J441, AFRICOM
• Ms. Swathi Veeravalli, J5, AFRICOM

About the National Security Significance of a Changing Climate (NSSCC): Operationalizing Climate Security (OCS):
This conference explores the operationalization of climate security within the U.S. geographic combatant commands. In less than one year, the national security apparatus has rapidly mobilized to answer the myriad of ways climate change affects national security. The Department of Defense (DoD) has recently released the DoD Climate Risk Analysis (DCRA) and DoD Climate Adaptation Plan (DCAP) as the initial steps toward charting future DoD actions regarding climate security considerations.

How the DoD fights and wins wars in the future will depend on our best understanding of how climate change will affect the areas in which we operate. Within the broader context of strategic competition, we seek to achieve integrated deterrence through the strength of our jointness and our partnerships—with other agencies as well as our partners and allies. The changing climate will further complicate strategic, operational, and tactical dynamics of national security.

As the regional leadership for conducting joint military operations around the world, geographic combatant commands are on the front lines of “Operationaling Climate Security.” While climate is mainstreamed across the DoD, this conference seeks to ask geographic combatant commands how climate risk will be incorporated into their mission, strategy, planning, and operations. As such, a J-4 and J-5 team from each geographic combatant command to talk about how they are integrating climate change.