Climate Change: Considerations for Geographic Combatant Commands PKSOI Paper | Page 13

• A new operational model that positions the
United States to be a more effective partner and
to leverage our leadership; and
• A modern architecture that elevates development and harnesses development capabilities
spread across government in support of common objectives.
This paper will further explain USAID’s capabilities to help GCCs follow the President’s guidance to
“invest in game-changing innovations” and to “balance our civilian and military power” in response to
climate change. The “right partners” for a DoD GCC
to engage in addressing climate change include USAID, DoS and the nations within a GCC’s AOR.
Further Defining “Who” Will Work with GCCs to
Address Climate Change Risks
GCCs must work closely with the interagency (IA)
and partner nations to determine specific vulnerabilities in military and economic sector infrastructure,
as well as which populations are vulnerable to the
adverse effects of climate change. SOUTHCOM has
established formal interagency memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Departments of State, Commerce, Treasury, Energy, Transportation, Health and
Human Services, Homeland Security (DHS), Justice as
well as USAID and its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Drug Enforcement Agency and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (both within DoJ)
and with the office of the Director of National Intelligence.10 Usually coordinated by the GCC staff’s “J9,”
this IA team is critical to developing comprehensive
near and long-term risk assessments and a “whole of

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