Since we can fight none of these threats successfully on our own, we should devise with our international partners innovative mechanisms to confront them in a comprehensive and holistic way. As a recent National Intelligence Estimate concluded, infectious diseases are also becoming a growing threat to U.S. and international security. In our age of increased travel and migration, the impact on American health and security can be tremendous. Already, annual deaths due to infectious diseases have doubled in the U.S. since 1980, reaching some 170,000 people. We must continue to intensify and expand our efforts to fight these diseases wherever they reside.
Environmental problems are myriad throughout the developed and developing world.
They range from global issues such as climate change, ozone depletion and biodiversity to local and regional problems such as desertification, deforestation, pollution and water shortages. The U.S. should work with other countries, international organizations, NGOs, and local communities to craft coordinated approaches to deal with these environmental challenges, which, if left untreated, can have serious deleterious effects on living conditions, national economies, and international security. American scientific expertise in areas such as clean energy technology can be employed to great effect. Food security has long been on the foreign assistance agenda, but it has usually consisted of food relief programs and agricultural technical assistance. An area that deserves more attention is support for bolstering access to the means of food production.