About The Project

U.S. Environmental Security:
Understanding And Enabling It To Matter

Despite much discussion in the 1990s, the dialog on environmental security continues to lack a commonly accepted understanding and practical utility for U.S. national security, environmental, and development communities’ missions. Pioneers on this topic lament these challenges and argue that the concept still needs a sound and acceptable framing. While progress to this end continues, many governmental activities are taking place outside of the U.S. practitioner communities. Meanwhile, the global war on terrorism (GWOT), Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the aftermaths of the Southeast Asian Tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have all highlighted many new environment-related security challenges facing these communities’ missions and operations. This thesis research project was developed to explicitly address these needs.

The project’s goal was to gain new knowledge on how U.S. national security, homeland security, and environmental practitioners understand and can yield value from environmental security to meet their policy, mission, and operational challenges. It was to do so by achieving three primary objectives. First, it captured U.S. national security, homeland security, and environmental practitioners’ and policy makers’ understandings of environmental security. Second, it identified common attributes that conceptually bridge, operationalize, and add value to these groups’ existing mission and operations. Finally, it developed a better understanding of current functional capability needs and resources within these communities.

To achieve this, the project utilized three methodologies: 1) a comprehensive literature review, 2) an email survey, and 3) a focus group workshop. First, a comprehensive literature review identified federal agencies’ and departments’ national security, homeland security, environmental, and development missions and functionalities. This review also identified potential participants and compiles their host organization, mission, position, and contact information. Second, an e-mail survey captured practitioners’ understandings of environmental security, its relevance for their institution’s mission and operations, and any known environmental security capability gaps and tools needed. Third, a project workshop developed participants’ shared understanding of environmental security, identified the concept’s institutional relevance and implications, explored capability needs and resources, and generated participant consensus and ownership.

This project sought to address the relevant mission and operational needs of U.S. national security, homeland security, and environmental communities. In doing so, this effort affirmed common elements for environmental security, compiled mission relevant environmentally related security issues, and identified mission and operational capability gaps and available resources. The need to do so was particularly acute given the failures in planning evident in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and in the more chronic environmental root antecedents of GWOT. This thesis research project engaged interested U.S. national security and environmental professionals to understand and start to help them better meet their critical mission and operational needs.