Global warming alarmism threatens U.S. national power and national security, say Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, Vice Admiral Edward S. Briggs, and Captain Donald K. Forbes. The nation’s government must abandon the false premise of anthropogenic global warming and initiate an energy policy that promotes economic prosperity and supports national security while preventing unnecessary damage to the environment.
The United States government has pursued energy policies that adversely affect the exercise of national power and weaken the nation militarily at the very time the country is presented with the opportunity to become energy independent strategically. These policies and the directives restrict and affect the development of fossil fuel assets based on the false premise that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere threaten the global environment and ultimately our national security.
The alternative is the foundation of a balanced strategic energy policy that emphasizes predominance of the private sector and begins with oil, natural gas, and coal extraction, production, and distribution unfettered by excessive regulation, elimination of government subsidies to industry, and refinery expansion. The time is now, the imperative great, and the advantages significant.
Admiral Thomas B. Hayward is a former Chief of Naval Operations; Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is also a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.
Vice Admiral Edward S. Briggs is a former Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Deputy Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Captain Donald K. Forbes is an aeronautical engineer, aircraft carrier-based naval aviator, and former Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.
