U.S. Environmental Security Policy: Broad Concern or Narrow Interests

Abstract

Beginning at least with Brown in 1977, scholars have argued that environmental concerns be incorporated into the security calculations of nation-states. In recent years, the "environmental security" thesis has been used to justify rhetorical and institutional changes within the U.S. national security policy subsystem. The first part of this article develops a set of criteria to distinguish between narrow and broad interpretations of environmental security. The second part presents several examples of changes to U.S. national security policies and programs, analyzes these changes in terms of the criteria developed in Part 1, and concludes that many are indicative of a fairly narrow interpretation of environmental security. Finally, this essay relates the findings of this investigation to international relations in general and to the international environmental problematic in particular.