Washington, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) and House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Jim Cooper (D-TN) released the following statement about withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty:

“The Trump administration is needlessly ignoring the concerns of our allies and partners on an issue that should unify NATO, not divide it,” said Smith. “By withdrawing from the INF Treaty instead of making an honest, good-faith effort to collectively punish Russia for its treaty violations and bring it back into compliance, we are playing into President Putin’s hands.

“The administration’s ideological aversion to arms control as a tool for advancing national security is endangering our safety, as well as that of our allies and partners. The risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding is already higher than at any point since the end of the Cold War, and this decision only makes it worse,” Smith continued. “President Trump withdrawing from this treaty reopens a field of competition with yet another class of nuclear weapons and, perhaps ironically, reverses one of President Reagan’s most important historical achievements in a way that benefits Moscow. We must not allow Russia to receive a free pass for violating the INF Treaty, which is exactly what the Trump administration is handing President Putin.”

“Of course the Russians have been cheating on the INF treaty for years; the question is how we punish them for cheating,” said Cooper. “The Trump approach is to reward them by withdrawing from the treaty ourselves. If a student cheats on a test, does the teacher suddenly decide the test doesn’t count? No, we should rally NATO, the main beneficiaries of this treaty, to condemn Russia. But our President has been too soft on Russia and too hard on NATO. He’s got it backwards.”

WASHINGTON – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA), Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan requesting he revise a report on climate change and its impacts on national security. The report, presented to Congress on January 10, failed to meet the basic requirements laid out in statute.

The text of the letter is attached and pasted below.

Quotes from the co-signers:

“In 2017, House Democrats successfully required the Department of Defense to report on the impact that climate change will have on U.S. military installations. The Trump administration has now released that report and, unfortunately, it is inadequate. It demonstrates a continued unwillingness to seriously recognize and address the threat that climate change poses to our national security and military readiness,” said Chairman Smith. “While this climate report acknowledges that nearly all the military installations it studied are vulnerable to major climate change impacts, and provides numerous installation-level examples of those impacts, it fails to even minimally discuss a mitigation plan to address the vulnerabilities. The Department of Defense presented no specifics on what is required to ensure operational viability and mission resiliency, and failed to estimate the future costs associated with ensuring these installations remain viable. That information was required by law. The Department of Defense must develop concrete, executable plans to address the national security threats presented by climate change. As drafted, this report fails to do that.”

“The Defense Department’s initial report does not adhere to the requirements plainly spelled out in my amendment, and it does not reflect the magnitude of the threat that climate change poses to our military bases around the globe,” said Congressman Langevin. “The Pentagon must complete the necessary analysis to meet the parameters set forth in law. Our military service members, the installations they rely on, and the threat environments they deploy to are living with the reality of climate change. It is incumbent upon the Department and Congress to ensure we are properly preparing for a warming planet, and the report issued earlier this month falls well short of what is required to responsibly address the issue, protect our national security, and ensure military readiness.”

“It’s shameful that the Trump administration refuses to take the threat of climate change seriously,” said Congressman Garamendi. “As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness, I am deeply concerned about the impact climate change will have on military readiness. The inadequate report that was provided to Congress failed to offer any solutions or strategies to address the impact climate change will have on our national security. That’s why I joined Armed Services Committee Chairman, Adam Smith, and Rep. Jim Langevin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, in sending a formal request to Acting Secretary of Defense Shanahan to issue a comprehensive revised report to Congress. The administration is required by law to provide this information to Congress, and I will do everything in my power to ensure we receive this vital information in a timely manner.”