Is it saying something when your biggest voice of ground is a hombre with the sobriquet “ Mad Dog ” ? Maybe .

That ’s the guinea pig at the moment , as Trump ’s Secretary of Defense , James “ Mad Dog ” Mattis , may just be one of the few people in the current presidential term that understands climate alteration .

Mattis was confirmed by the Senate in January , butProPublicamanaged to get cargo area of some unpublished written testimonial provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after his verification sense of hearing . It makes for quite interesting – and reasonably promising – indication .

“ Climate change is impacting stableness in orbit of the human beings where our troops are run today , ” he write in response to one question . “ It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to integrate drivers of instability that touch on the security surroundings in their areas into their planning . ”

One query nonplus to him by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen ask if he imagine mood change was a protection threat . He replied : “ Climate change can be a gadget driver of unbalance and the Department of Defence must pay attention to potential adverse impacts generated by this phenomenon , ” contribute that mood alteration required a “ broad , whole - of - political science response . ”

And he also said : “ I fit in that the effects of a change climate – such as increase marine entree to the Arctic , uprise sea tier , desertification , among others – affect our surety situation . I will ensure that the section proceed to be prepared to conduct operation today and in the futurity , and that we are prepared to address the personal effects of a changing climate on our threat assessments , resource , and readiness . ”

It might seem odd , but the military machine has often been a voice of reason when it come to clime alteration . After all , some of its essence – such as increasing stresses on water , food , and vigor – increase the possibility of internal and global proceeds . InSeptember 2016 , various military officials tell mood change portray “ meaning and direct peril ” to the United States .

peradventure Trump will heed to Mattis . Or maybe he ’ll before long be the former Secretary of Defense . Guess we ’ll find out soon enough .