Environmental security revived; a global security threat

National defense is viewed by many as a uniquely military activity to fight and win our nation's wars. The world that we live in today causes us to rethink this idea as the realities of today's defense missions take shape. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are part of what is reshaping our image of national defense, but also emerging is the recognition that large-scale environmental degradation manifests security threats that can be global in scope. This paper examines this issue in the context of environmental security analysis. Although, the security implication of climate change is the issue that has brought new focus to this concept, this one environmental calamity is not the only environmental security challenge we will face in the future. The paper outlines an approach to analyzing environmental security threats on a regional and world scale. It is a fusion of science, political science, and strategic defense analysis. The product of this work is an environmental security analytical model. The secondary value of this paper is to advance the debate and discussion of environmental security as a fundamental component of strategic defense analysis.