--- 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: 2026-08-04T07:53:50.383Z 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump to Reverse Obama's Recognition of Climate Change as a National Security Threat > Sponsored content. 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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. ## Transcript My personal opinion is immaterial. Really? To the job of- You are gonna be the head of the agency to protect the environment and your personal feelings about whether climate change is caused by human activity and carbon emissions is immaterial? [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] Science tells us that the climate is changing. And that human activity in some manner impacts that change. The ability to measure, with precision to degree and the extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue, and well it should be. Part of what I did initially, coming into this position Was advanced [ UNKNOWN ] the basics agenda. Getting back to the core basic missions of the agency to really focus on a very constructive, tangible outcomes with respect to how we're improving the environment. You know the EPA should pass rules that are within the framework the Congress has established. That sounds pretty novel, but that's exactly what should occur. We shouldn't re- imagine our authority. To pick winners and losers. Our job is to enforce the law and so when a statue is passed by Congress, whether it's a clean air act or [ UNKNOWN ] or clean water act, our job is to administer that statue pursuant to the responsibilities and obligations and authority that Congress has given us. What's happened the last several years, Is this agency among others? but this agency particularly has taken a statute and really stretched them so far. That the courts are that step in and say you don't have authority or didn't have authority to do that. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] I think what the American people deserve is a open, honest, transparent discussion about what do we know or what don't we know with respect to CO2. You're welcome to the EPA, perhaps some of you this is your first visit to the EPA, its good to see co- monitors here at the EPA. The President, by his signature today, is rejecting the narrative that this country cannot be both pro- energy and pro- environment. So when environmental groups say you spend most of your time meeting with quote unquote polluters. Your response it seems might be something- I don't spend any time with polluters. Right. I prosecute polluters. Right. What I'm spending time with are stakeholders that care about outcomes. When you ask about the groups we've met with, those farmers and ranchers in Iowa or North Dakota or other parts, are they less of a conservation and environmentalist because they're not a part of some association? I mean they're our first environmentalist. Their greatest asset is their land. I think it's very important to help real orient thinking. To help us as a country understand that environmental stewardship should be our objective, should be our goal. Environmental protection is not to put up a fence, to say that we can feed the world or not, whether we can power the world or not. It's to use the natural resources that we've been blessed with as a country to help feed the world, power the world, but also do it in a way that is environmentally conscious and sensitive to future generations. So that's kind of a re- orientation of thinking, an attitude if you will along with specific focal points of measurements in each of these areas of air, land and water. 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