--- title: Trump: Climate Change No Longer National Security Threat description: President Trump will remove former President Obama's declaration of climate change as a national security threat under his new strategy plan canonical: https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-18T13:06:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:36:43.270Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat og:description: Under his new national security strategy plan og:url: https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595b2bb04c4d11b4/6988f56c97cdff85856b3a7a/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Trump Returns To White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat twitter:description: Under his new national security strategy plan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595b2bb04c4d11b4/6988f56c97cdff85856b3a7a/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat ## Video: Scott Pruitt's EPA [Watch (HLS stream): Scott Pruitt's EPA](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kwozIrQS.m3u8) (3:14)  _Published 2017-10-26. TIME's Justin Worland sits down with Scott Pruitt of the EPA_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2017 1:06 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump arrives back at the White House on December 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump arrives back at the White House on December 17, 2017 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2017 1:06 PM UTC President Trump will remove former President Obama’s declaration of climate change as a national security threat, according to a report on Trump’s new national security strategy plan. Trump will announce his new plan on Monday, which cements his platform of [“America First”](http://time.com/4844975/america-first-faces-a-big-test/) by propping up American interests in what the president views as a competition with other countries, the Associated Press [reports](http://time.com/5068594/trump-national-security-strategy/). People familiar with the plan tell the AP that Trump will establish that the U.S. will defend itself, even if it requires cutting others out on issues such as climate change. Obama in 2015 said [climate change](http://time.com/5066682/global-climate-change-plan/) presents an “urgent and growing threat to our national security.” That designation will disappear under Trump’s new strategy plan. The AP reports the plan will instead note the “importance of environmental stewardship.” Trump, who referred to climate change as a hoax prior to taking office, has waged war on Obama’s regulations concerning the issue. Trump previously promised to pull the U.S. from the Paris Agreement—an international agreement reached in 2015 that provides a global approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/"},"headline":"President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat","datePublished":"2017-12-18T13:06:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:36:43.270Z","description":"Under his new national security strategy plan","url":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/","keywords":["White House","Environment","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595b2bb04c4d11b4/6988f56c97cdff85856b3a7a/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595b2bb04c4d11b4/6988f56c97cdff85856b3a7a/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Returns To White House","caption":"Trump Returns To White House","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/","name":"President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Scott Pruitt's EPA","description":"TIME's Justin Worland sits down with Scott Pruitt of the EPA","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kwozIrQS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-10-26T02:55:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kwozIrQS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/","duration":"PT3M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5068604/trump-obama-climate-change-national-security/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```