The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2022 totals $715 billion, and among the Defense Department’s stated priorities are fighting the “climate crisis” and “extremism” in America’s armed forces.
The funding requested the Pentagon under Biden continues a trend set under Trump who ballooned the military budget from just $582 billion requested by the Obama administration in 2017. The newest 2022 budget request increases the budget by $11 billion in comparison to 2021.
A combined $40 million in the new Pentagon budget request is earmarked for fighting climate change and extremism in the ranks. https://t.co/Sg9RQ4KSJG
— Hope Hodge Seck (@HopeSeck) June 1, 2021
The 2022 budget proposal highlights climate change as a “national security priority,” stating that DoD will “elevate climate as a national security priority” and integrate “climate considerations” into “policies, strategies, and partner engagements.”
Funds will be reallocated to bolster “climate resiliency” and invest in clean energy. The request allocates $617 million for ensuring military installations can operate efficiently and recover from infrastructure disruption, R&D for new energy technologies and “climate-informed” wargaming, analysis and contingency planning.
Rooting out the supposed extremism within the military is another focus of the budget, with almost $31 million requested for strengthen tools to “identify and address extremism.”