The Department of Defense is abandoning its nearly two decades-long focus on climate change as a national security issue. In a terse message to CNN, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said, “Climate zealotry and other woke chimeras of the Left are not part of that core mission."

In response to a list of questions from CNN about military readiness as it relates to climate programs, Pentagon Spox John Ullyot said “Climate zealotry and other woke chimeras of the Left are not part” of DOD’s mission. https://t.co/sUFNT69jxT

— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) March 9, 2025

If CNN reporter Haley Britzky thought tweeting the response would get a different answer, she was quickly disabused of that notion.

John is, of course, correct.

The @DeptofDefense does not do climate change crap.

We do training and warfighting. https://t.co/eK5Xyf7fN4

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 9, 2025

This is a major change for the Department of Defense that goes back at least five administrations. For reasons I've never really understood, the military has been vulnerable to environazis for decades. At Fort (Braxton) Bragg, large swaths of training area were put off limits because they were allegedly the nesting grounds of the then-endangered (it had a status upgrade in December) red-cockaded woodpecker. A freakin woodpecker. An acquaintance of mine was relieved of his command because one of his troops had pasted a picture of the bird on a target on a rifle range (the 1,000-inch range), and the wrong person happened onto the scene. If you're wondering why US Navy ships compare unfavorably to Soviet trawlers, circa 1980, in terms of rust, it is because the best paint is environmentally friendly.

Here are the top 10+ reasons why US Navy ships are covered in rust stains:

•They aren’t allowed to use old, toxic-but-effective paint.
•They aren’t allowed to use new, eco-friendly-but-effective paint.
•They aren’t allowed to send people over the side on ropes.
•They aren’t… https://t.co/A2NbFUtqce

— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) February 28, 2025

The Department of Defense has been enamored of climate change since at least 2003 when Defense's Office of Net Assessment released a report titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security. Go to page 18 of the pdf to look at what were considered reasonable scenarios for 2025.

In 2007, the Center for Naval Analyses's Military Advisory Board produced a report titled National Security and the Threat of Climate Change. "Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States," it drones on, "Accordingly, it is appropriate to start now to help mitigate the severity of some of these emergent challenges."  This is the first instance where climate change was something that the military would have to contend with (we call it terrain and weather), and articulate a role for Defense in mitigating the threat. 

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review was heavy on climate.

The Department is increasing its use of renewable energy supplies and reducing energy demand to improve operational effectiveness, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in support of U.S. climate change initiatives, and protect the Department from energy price fluctuations. The Military Departments have invested in noncarbon power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy at domestic installations and in vehicles powered by alternative fuels, including hybrid power, electricity, hydrogen, and compressed national gas. 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. DoD will partner with academia, other U.S. agencies, and international partners to research, develop, test, and evaluate new sustainable energy technologies.

By the time the exorcists arrived to de-demon Lloyd Austin's office, the environment was driving the train.

Climate Adaption Plan by streiff on Scribd

The Army set a deadline of 2035 for all of its administrative vehicles to be electric and 2050 for tactical vehicles. 

Along the way, Defense invested tens of millions of dollars in "social science" research with a climate change edge.

That research portfolio was shut down Friday.

• The Climate-Food-Urbanization Nexus and the Precursors of Instability in Africa
• Social and Institutional Determinants of Vulnerability and Resilience to Climate Hazards in the African Sahel
• Anticipating Costal Population Mobility: Path to Maladaptation or Sociopolitical Stability 
• Comparing Underlying Drivers of South-North Migration in Central America and West Africa
• Democracy Quest
• The Language of Parasocial Influence and the Emergence of Extremism 
• Weaponized Conspiracies
• Beyond the Clock: Understanding Cross-Cultural Temporal Orientation of Military Officers
• Food Fights: War Narratives and Identity Reproduction in Evolving Conflicts
• Future Fish Wars: Chasing Ocean Ecosystem Wealth

If climate change is real, it will be addressed at home and abroad by agencies not called the Department of Defense. When the Defense encounters it, it will come in the form of weather and terrain; how we got there will be an academic exercise. Secretary Hegseth is right; his focus has to be on training troops, structuring forces, modernizing equipment, and building warrior spirit to win wars, something Defense has gotten out of the habit of doing over the last 41 years.

Few things are harder than turning around a failing but complacent and self-satisfied organization. That is the challenge facing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The military services have been hollowed out through DEI and dysfunctional leadership. The industrial base is dead in the water. Follow RedState for some of the most informed coverage on his efforts to recreate a force in crisis. Join RedState VIP and help continue that coverage. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.