Edward Thomas Morehouse, Jr.
Consultant

Throughout his career as an Air Force officer and private consultant supporting the Department of Defense (DOD), E. Thomas Morehouse, Jr., has been a driving force behind key policy changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most recently, he has helped spur the national climate change debate by showing that climate and national security are inextricably linked, and that taking action to protect the climate will help, not hurt, military readiness.

Morehouse, who received a 2009 Climate Protection Award from the Environmental Protection Agency, is the principal author of three Defense Science Board reports on energy security, which concluded that DOD’s excessive dependence on fossil fuel is an energy risk. In those studies, he suggested modifications to DOD’s business practices that would save fuel, reduce risks, and eliminate millions of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of the reports, Congress enacted legislation to establish new energy governance within DOD and mandated implementation of the reports’ recommendations.

Morehouse was also co-author of a Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) study in 2007 that assessed the national security consequences of global climate change, including geopolitical instabilities, infrastructure vulnerabilities, food and water security issues, and the potential for humanitarian disasters. The study resulted in two new laws: one requiring national intelligence assessment of climate change and another requiring DOD to incorporate climate factors into its mission planning processes. He was also a co-author of a second CNA report released on May 18, 2009 describing how America’s energy dependence threatens national security and recommending actions for the Congress, White House and the DoD.  Morehouse has also served as an advisor to the White House on technologies to strengthen energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provided expert advice to the Montreal Protocol and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and played a central role in organizing national and international conferences on the military’s role in climate protection.

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