Repower America is honored today to have a guest blogger, Dan Nolan. Dan is a 26 year veteran of the U.S. Army and current resident of Tampa. During his military career, Colonel Nolan commanded the 1st Armored Division Artillery in Germany and Kosovo as well as served as principal advisor to General Tommy Franks at U.S. Central Command. Col. Nolan is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and holds a Masters of Arts from the Naval War College as well as a Masters of Science from the University of Southern California. Col. Nolan will be speaking this coming Tuesday, Aug. 31st in Tampa, along with other veterans about how the military is working to reduce its reliance on oil and why the Department of Defense, Pentagon and CIA see climate change as a threat to our national security.

I spent the majority of my adult life in service to this Nation. As a soldier for 26 years I knew that I would be called upon to respond to threats to the Constitution, “foreign and domestic”. On two occasions, I left my family behind to deploy to combat zones with short notice for long durations. I went in harm’s way because I swore an oath to do so. Members of Congress take a very similar oath. Some in the Senate appear to have forgotten that oath.

One of the greatest threats facing this country is our dependence on a strategic commodity we do not control: oil. Countries who do not share a vision of what is in the best interests of our way of life control what we need to keep the engines of our transportation system moving. Another threat is that posed by climate change. The droughts in Russia that have spawned wildfires are a manifestation of the hottest months on record. Vladimir Putin has banned the export of grain as a result of this climate disaster. Wheat has hit a 23-month high on commodities markets. Who will this directly affect? A nation suffering another climate catastrophe, a nuclear armed nation: Pakistan. With potentially millions of starving people in that flood ravaged country, where will they turn to for food? Strategic thinkers have long recognized the potential of population migration for causing war. That is why the Pentagon and the CIA have established agencies to consider the implication of climate change.

This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2010.