The Central Intelligence Agency Has Closed A Major Climate-Science Program. A Good Thing?

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a major climate-science program. "Under the program, known as Medea, the CIA had allowed civilian scientists to access classified data—such as ocean temperature and tidal readings gathered by Navy submarines and topography data collected by spy satellites—in an effort to glean insights about how global warming could create security threats around the world. ... Data gathered by the military and intelligence agencies is often of much higher quality than what civilian scientists normally work with. ... Over the past several years, climate change has gained prominence among defense experts, many of whom see it as a 'threat multiplier' that can exacerbate crises such as infectious disease and terrorism. Medea had been part of a larger network of climate-related initiatives across the national security community. Medea's closure notwithstanding, that network appears to be growing." Tim McDonnell in Mother Jones