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Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273

Washington, D.C., February 24, 2004—A recent report on the possible future effects of global warming, issued by two researchers working for the U.S. Department of Defense, is being unfortunately misinterpreted as a prediction of imminent climatic disaster.  The report, prepared last October, considers a series of far-ranging scenarios based on an array of models and hypotheses of varying degrees of likelihood.  The authors repeatedly emphasize the conditional nature of the report, referring to their predictions as “extreme” and “not the most likely.”

“Some alarmists are pointing to the Pentagon report as proof that we face impending climate disaster, but even a brief review shows that that isn’t the case,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.  “As with past national security assessments, the Department of Defense was presented with a worst case scenario, not the likely future.  The Pentagon naturally believes it has to research any possible threat – whether it be an alien invasion, an accidental nuclear detonation, or catastrophic climate change.”