The CIA Should Be Combating Terrorists, Not Spying On Sea Lions

by William Teach | October 7, 2009 9:37 am

I’ve mentioned before that the CIA has opened a Center On Climate Change and National Security[1]. Surprisingly, some people have a problem with this[2]

There’s been a lot said lately about the national-security implications of climate change, in the form of water shortages, mass migration, and unstable governments.

But in the view of at least one U.S. senator–Republican John Barrasso of Wyoming—those potential impacts don’t justify a “climate change center” like the one that the Central Intelligence Agency recently launched.

Mr. Barrasso—an outspoken opponent of the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases—is trying to amend a huge defense-related spending bill to prohibit the CIA from using any money to fund its Center on Climate Change and National Security, which the agency launched on Sept. 25. Mr. Barrasso says the center risks stretching the CIA too thin and that existing federal agencies charged with monitoring climactic changes can supply the CIA with whatever information it needs.

“Will someone sitting in a dark room watching satellite video of northern Afghanistan now be sitting in a dark room watching polar ice caps?,” Mr. Barrasso said Tuesday in a statement. He added that the agency should be combating terrorists, not spying on sea lions.”

Is the center a good idea? Possibly. Weather, and its ultimate creation, climate, can certainly affect the stability of areas around the globe. But, anyone think that the center will focus on how the majority of warming/cooling is caused by natural processes? Or, do we think this will become yet another government climate alarmist chicken little group?

But, hey, you never know. Perhaps they could tell us about the Antarctic ice melt[3] being the lowest recorded in the satellite era. Or about how to waste $10 trillion[4] (yes, TRILLION) over the next 20 years on AGW. Maybe they could leak a report about the hockey stick being quietly pulled[5] from the latest UN climate report.

They could also leak to their favorite NY Times reporter about the Arctic ice being thicker[6] this past summer. And, I bet they wouldn’t make a mistake in confusing the Arctic and Antarctic[7]like the U.N. Nor saying that a deeper recession to reduce man-made climate emissions would be great, like Senator “Waffles” Kerry did[8]. Maybe the CIA folks could use the center to mock Gore and carbon trading[9], as left wing groups are starting to do.

Na. It’ll probably be used to make sure you aren’t barbecuing in your own backyard.