House Committee Chairs Question Rationale for Proposed NSC Climate Change Panel

Today, four House Committee Chairs sent a letter to President Trump expressing concerns and raising questions about recent reports that the National Security Council (NSC) plans to assemble a secret panel to counter the scientific consensus on climate change and question its impacts on the national security of the United States. 

The letter was sent by Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA), Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Natural Resources Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), and Science, Space, and Technology Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX).

“The decision to convene this NSC panel represents yet another action by your Administration in a line of many that run counter to the overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes and impacts of climate change,” wrote the four Committee Chairs.“Given the previous statements you have made that fly in the face of explicit scientific evidence and the findings of your own DoD and Director of National Intelligence, we have serious concerns about any effort to construct a secret committee to question the basic scientific fact of climate change.”

The letter also highlights concerns about the reported involvement of Dr. William Happer, who appears to be leading the efforts to undermine the consensus regarding the national security implications of climate change. 

“Dr. Happer does not have the qualifications to serve on a working group that should be composed of climate scientists, if it is to exist at all. Dr. Happer is an atomic physicist, not an expert on climate, and his statements on climate change have been repeatedly debunked by actual climate scientists,” the Committee Chairs continued. 

The full text of the letter can be found here.