Environmental degradation was formally reframed as a U.S. national security issue in the 1990s.

Evidence

Over the course of the 1990s, accordingly, international environmental law formally had become a matter of “national security,” as global instability was increasingly linked to environmental degradation and conflict. In 1996, Secretary of State Warren Christopher declared that “addressing natural resources issues is frequently critical to achieving political and economic stability, and to pursuing our strategic goals around the world. [W]e must also contend with the vast new danger posed to our national interests by damage to the environment and resulting global and regional instability.” The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars soon thereafter established an Environmental Change and Security Project, which has both tracked and underscored the connection between national security and environmental concerns. In February 1999, EPA administrator Carol Browner likewise embraced the compelling need to strengthen national security through environmental protection initiatives. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 661

Categorization

• QUESTION: Did the national-security framing of environment actually change policy outcomes, or was it purely rhetorical legitimation? Potential research question.