On February 1, the Office of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued the  2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). A Congressionally-mandated review of Department of Defense (DoD) strategies and priorities, the QDR reflects the sitting President’s assessment of the threats and challenges facing the country as well as DoD’s long term goals.

Energy security has historically never been deemed worthy of precious QDR air-time. The 2006 QDR, issued under the Bush Administration, did not mention energy or climate issues.

The 2010 QDR, on the other hand, devotes four pages to the topic of “Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy,” indicating the extent to which energy and climate security are now perceived as much more direct threats to our national security than they have been in years past.

For DoD, energy and climate security threats are threefold: first, impact on warfighting operations; second, impact on base integrity and security (for example, according to the National Intelligence Council more than 30 U.S. military installations are threatened by rising seas); and third, impact on  strategic preparation for future conflicts.

Though all of these are discussed in the QDR, the definition provided is succinct: “Energy security for the Department means having assured access to reliable supplies of energy and the ability to protect and deliver sufficient energy to meet operational needs.”

DoD will continue to speed its investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Particularly for troops in the field, energy efficiency is a “force multiplier,” increasing their “range and endurance” and also reducing “the number of combat forces diverted to protect energy supply lines, which are vulnerable to both asymmetric and conventional attacks and disruptions.”

DoD has played an important role in energy technology development and scalability in recent years, building large solar arrays on bases and investing in electric and other alternative fuel vehicles. For example, the Department is deploying 500 hybrids and 4,000 low-speed electric vehicles, and by 2016 the Air Force hopes to “cost-competitively acquire 50 percent of its domestic aviation fuel via an alternative fuel blend that is greener than conventional petroleum fuel.”  The importance of defense-related technology pushes to broader civilian life, such as that which created the internet, is not lost on energy planners. “Solving military challenges— through such innovations as more efficient generators, better batteries, lighter materials, and tactically deployed energy sources—has the potential to yield spin-off technologies that benefit the civilian community as well.”

The QDR points out that energy security and climate change are “inextricably linked.” In a strong statement, the Office of the Secretary of Defense  further argues that “climate change will shape the operating environment, roles, and missions that we undertake.” The primary mechanism that climate change, with its rising seas, desertification, and food and water scarcity, will affect DoD is through a weakening of vulnerable governments, mass migration, and humanitarian crises, which are all accelerants of conflict.

This is reminiscent of an important point made in the QDR’s section on reforming foreign security assistance: “Threats to our security in the decades to come are more likely to emanate from state weakness than from state strength.” And, as we know, states dependent on oil revenues are frequently weak. In general, it seems evident that energy and climate security will play a larger role in DoD planning and engagement.

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