Those remaining few concerned about our nation’s security must read Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Biden’s opening statement at yesterday’s Committee hearing on “Climate Change — A National Security Threat”. On page three he says:

“Our national intelligence estimates should account for the threat of climate change. Senator Hagel has been leader on this matter. I have joined him and Senator Durbin on their legislation calling for the incorporation of climate change in those estimates. Our defense strategies should also address the effects of climate change, as should our Quadrennial Defense Review. We know the threat. Our plans must reflect it. The report calls for stronger national and international efforts by the United States to stabilize climate change — that means cutting the deals that will cut the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.”

And what deal will cut greenhouse gases, may I ask? We know that the “world leading” EU-15, which are “Europe” under the one agreement everyone has heard of, the Kyoto Protocol, began their running spike in emissions the very year they agreed in Kyoto to reduce emissions. Its predecessor failed, too. As chairman, he must know something we don’t. Like Dick Durbin apparently was on Iraq, he’s just squirming to tell us but, you know, can’t. It’s hush-hush. Only CIA knows about it. See, that’s why they need a slice of this lucrative action. Of course, it was only a few years ago that CIA last tried this, gathering a gaggle of pressure group advocates and publishing a consensus of what this rather unrepresentative universe claimed was the case regarding the ozone hole. Only to be embarassed — presuming CIA maintains the capacity for embarassment — to see published reports mere months later that the hole had shrunk to half its size. Just a little fodder for those who dare make the absurd point that CIA has no expertise in these matters. Don’t worry, with the kind of money we throw at this issue, there’s plenty to spread around to some folks who “do climate” for a living. Also raised in Biden’s statement is an issue about which we will hear much more as the G-8 approaches is S. Res. 30, the “Biden-Lugar ” resolution, this year’s installment in the annual “embarass Bush as he heads for the G-8 with a pouting climate posture” sweepstakes.

“Senator Lugar and I, along with two dozen colleagues from both sides of the aisle, hope the Senate will soon be able to take up and pass our Resolution (S. Res. 30) calling for the return to U.S. leadership in global climate negotiations.”

Please note that this resolution, distilled, demands that George W. Bush go to the climate-treaty table and do a better job of negotiating than Al Gore. That’s so apposite and so powerful given Gore’s current standing that we can be assured the Republicans in the Senate will not make the point. But, you’ll notice that Kyoto is a duly signed treaty and, among the Senate’s many bangers-on about the issue, not one has made one squeak seeking the President ask them to vote on it (not constitutionally required, btw) let alone made an overture to bring it through for a vote. That is because no one wants to come near it, which is why the Biden-Lugar demand is precisely as I describe it. Let’s ask Brussels’ leading Kyoto expert, Christian Egenhofer of CEPS, who I know now much better that he has become displeased with my publicizing his following remark at every opportunity. He knows that Gore flubbed it even if you believe that accepting the counsel of “Kenny Boy” Lay and John Browne over the unanimous Article II, Section 2 “advice” of the Senate was the right thing to do:

“So the EU is not a champion either in reducing emissions, is this what you are saying? They are actually bringing emissions down [NB: well, not quite, scroll down for chart…but this is Brussels] but their targets were the easiest. The US is definitely not a champion in reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), they do what is politically feasible. You could say that the US did a very bad job at negotiating [in Kyoto] while the EU did a good job.”

That is, one ought to be humiliated by getting so snookered as to not just agree to an unrealistic promise for yourself but while also affording an almost free-ride to Europe with a 1990 baseline to let them ride unrelated reductions preceding Kyoto, combined with building in a provision allowing these disparate states to collectivize their burden on top of that so as to minimize any actual burden they might face. Indeed, Bush certainly should do a better job than Gore, and so far he is. Maybe CIA can ferret that truth out.