Climate Change: Considerations for Geographic Combatant Commands PKSOI Paper | Page 11

Higher Level Guidance
Recent climate change adaptation guidance relevant to all GCCs includes several presidential statements and policy directives as well as Department of
Defense (DoD) guidance. In his 2015 State of the Union
address, President Obama stated that “no challenge
poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change….I am determined to make sure American leadership drives international action.”3 The
President reinforced these remarks with inclusion
of climate change as one of the top national security
threats in his 2015 National Security Strategy. Important for DoD and the GCCs is his statement that “the
United States has a unique capability to mobilize
and lead the international community to meet [these
threats].”4 DoD’s