The Future of Climate Security

Unmitigated climate change has the potential to significantly exacerbate existing national security challenges facing the United States—from contributing to further destabilization in key geostrategic regions to threatening U.S. military and security assets and thus the U.S.’s ability to respond to threats and crises. Join us for a discussion on security implications of climate change with Lukas Haynes, Executive Director of the David Rockefeller Fund and Vice Admiral (ret.) Robert Parker, USCG.

About the speakers:

Lukas Haynes is a member of the Center for Climate and Security’s Advisory Board, and Executive Director of the David Rockefeller Fund. Previously, he was Vice President of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation where he was responsible since 2006 for a philanthropic strategy to mitigate the risks of global warming, invest in low-income New York City communities, and protect human rights. He is also an adjunct associate professor of global affairs and philanthropy at New York University. He was previously New York director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and program officer for international peace and security. From 2003-04, Mr. Haynes provided foreign and security policy advice to the Obama for U.S. Senate campaign. From 2000-01, he served on the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. State Department as speechwriter for Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Mr. Haynes has lectured at Harvard, Princeton, and West Point, and authored numerous publications as an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the International Crisis Group, the Salzburg Seminar, and the International Peace Academy. He was educated at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, where he earned a master’s degree in international relations.

Vice Admiral Robert Parker, USCG is currently an independent consultant and adviser for National and Homeland Security, Maritime Security and Operations, and Cyber Awareness. His work includes senior fellow for the US National Defense University Keystone, Capstone and Pinnacle courses and US Naval War College Combined Forces Maritime Component Commander Course. He served over 35 years as a commissioned officer in the US Coast Guard.

His last post was Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, where he served as the operational commander for all U.S. Coast Guard missions within a geographic region that ranged from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and spanned across 40 states and 3 territories. Prior to this, he was the first USCG officer to be U.S. Southern Command’s Director of Security and Intelligence (J3/J2) in Miami, Florida, coordinating all U.S. military operations and intelligence efforts in the Caribbean, and Central and South America including the DOD support to coordinated interagency responses after catastrophic earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010. With over 12 years of sea duty, he commanded three Coast Guard cutters in various missions in diverse environments including the Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, North Atlantic and Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

Vice Admiral Parker holds a MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and completed a one-year National Security Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a 1979 graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy. He attended 2006 National Defense University's CAPSTONE Program in 2006 and PINNACLE in 2010. Vice Admiral Parker is an Honorary Master Chief in the United States Coast Guard, his most prized personal award.

Ian Kraucunas is Director of the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, which includes over 140 staff engaging in a wide range of climate, atmospheric, integrated assessment, and Earth system science research. He also serves as principal investigator for several projects related to integrated multi-scale modeling of human and natural systems. Previously, he led PNNL's Platform for Regional Integrated Modeling and Analysis (PRIMA) initiative, a laboratory-wide activity to bring together capabilities spanning the climate-energy-water-land nexus. Prior to joining PNNL, he was a Senior Program Officer with the Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate at the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington.

About the moderator:

Craig Gannett is a Partner and Co-chair of Energy Practice at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. He focuses his practice in the fields of electric utility regulation, renewable energy development, and climate change-related regulation. Craig advises clients on a broad range of regulatory matters, including those relating to hydroelectric dams, wholesale electricity transactions, transmission lines, the creation and trading of renewable energy credits, and the impacts of potential changes to the Columbia River Treaty. As a former Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, he advises with respect to the Federal Power Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act, as well as EPA climate change regulations under the Clean Air Act. Craig also teaches Climate Change Law at the University of Washington School of Law, and is a vice president of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.