Department of Homeland Security distracted by climate hysteria

Turmoil in the Middle East, an invigorated Communist China, and an increasingly aggressive Russia—these are all very real concerns. But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has instead designated climate change as one of the greatest threats Americans face.

Following the lead of President Joe Biden’s “Climate Day” executive order, DHS released its first ever “Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change.” The administration continues to convey climate alarmism, claiming that not only are we facing an impending doom, but that now we have reached a point at which we cannot reverse some of the changes in the climate system.

In 2021, the DHS launched the Climate Change Action Group, which charges the department’s senior leadership with driving action to address climate change, claiming that this “crisis” poses a significant threat to DHS operations and to American citizens.

Part of that charge is the Climate Change Professionals Program, which will put the focus of federal employees on adapting to climate change — as if the weather is the cause of geopolitical tensions. In reality, this is another attempt to meet the senseless goals of the Paris climate accord — which will not impact climate change in the slightest but will weaken the United States’ energy security and national security.

Recently, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence forecast in its quadrennial Global Trends report that climate change would be the cause of social and political instability. One scenario it offered was fisheries devasted by rising ocean temperatures and acidity, which would eventually lead to global famine.

That’s ironic, considering the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island is now threatening to destroy the U.S. fishing industry, raising already soaring energy costs, and jeopardizing endangered wildlife that only exists in that region. It’s not just the wind turbines themselves; the transmission lines continue to create serious safety hazards and cost tens of millions of dollars to repair.

Prior to this administration, the United States was energy independent and making tremendous strides in energy dominance. If the mission of DHS is to safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values, then it does not need to be focused on a net-zero world.

There are real, critical threats the United States is facing that are more tangible and undeniable than harmless CO2 emissions :

• Biden’s border crisis.

Border security is national security, and right now, the United States border is not secure. With Mexican cartels in full control of the U.S.-Mexico border, an unidentified amount of drugs, weapons, currency, and dangerous criminals are crossing into the country en masse.

• Cybersecurity at home and abroad.

In 2021, a simple hack took down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S. resulting in gasoline shortages across the east coast.  In light of the Russia-Ukraine tensions, DHS acknowledged that “Russia maintains a ranger of offensive cyber tools that it could employ against U.S. networks.”

• Plain and simple: China.

The FBI declared that counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts made by the Chinese Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States.

Biden’s anti-American, pro-poverty energy policies have permeated other departments; we don’t need DHS added to that list.

Achieving zero emissions is not about climate change, it is about coercing the masses to adopt politically correct lifestyles and cede power to the federal government.

This administration continues to take the wrong steps in meeting affordable and reliable energy needs of American families, but all the right steps towards higher costs and ghastly consequences. Not a single effort to go net-zero has been successful, but instead has resulted in a continued need for fossil fuels and coal and higher costs for consumers. The Department of Homeland Security should not be concerned with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, it should be focused on the geopolitical tensions being stoked by the Biden administration’s lack of fortitude.