On September 25th, a CIA press release announced the opening of its new Center on Climate Change and National Security. On October 6, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) announced his intent to block funding for the center though an amendment to the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations bill.

However, Barrasso’s amendment failed, and the spending bill was approved. It is currently in conference to reconcile House and Senate versions.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, the fight over funding CIA assessment of the security implications of climate change extends back to the Clinton administration:

This is the latest round of a periodic battle Republicans have waged against efforts to involve intelligence agencies in climate assessments.

…The origins of the fight date back to the Clinton administration, led by Vice President Al Gore, launched a number initiatives in the late 1990s to study the security implications of climate change. But just as the CIA was launching its Environmental Center, a Republican-controlled Congress slashed its funding. The center and related projects wound down shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, in recent years, the intelligence community has grown increasingly concerned about climate change. Last fall, the National Intelligence Council’s 2025 forecast anticipated significant security impacts from climate change:

The predicted shift toward a less U.S.-centric world will come at a time when the planet is facing a growing environmental crisis, caused largely by climate change, Fingar said. By 2025, droughts, food shortages and scarcity of fresh water will plague large swaths of the globe, from northern China to the Horn of Africa.

For poorer countries, climate change “could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Fingar said, while the United States will face “Dust Bowl” conditions in the parched Southwest. He said U.S. intelligence agencies accepted the consensual scientific view of global warming, including the conclusion that it is too late to avert significant disruption over the next two decades. The conclusions are in line with an intelligence assessment produced this summer that characterized global warming as a serious security threat for the coming decades.

Here’s the full CIA press release:

CIA Opens Center on Climate Change and National Security

September 25, 2009

The Central Intelligence Agency is launching The Center on Climate Change and National Security as the focal point for its work on the subject. The Center is a small unit led by senior specialists from the Directorate of Intelligence and the Directorate of Science and Technology.

Its charter is not the science of climate change, but the national security impact of phenomena such as desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources. The Center will provide support to American policymakers as they negotiate, implement, and verify international agreements on environmental issues. That is something the CIA has done for years. “Decision makers need information and analysis on the effects climate change can have on security. The CIA is well positioned to deliver that intelligence,” said Director Leon Panetta.

The Center will assume responsibility for coordinating with Intelligence Community partners on the review and declassification of imagery and other data that could be of use to scientists in their own climate-related research. This effort draws on imagery and other information that is collected in any event, assisting the US scientific community without a large commitment of resources.

The new Center does more than bring together in a single place expertise on an important national security topic—the effect environmental factors can have on political, economic, and social stability overseas. It will also be aggressive in outreach to academics and think tanks working the issue. The goal is a powerful asset recognized throughout our government, and beyond, for its knowledge and insight.