Department of Defense Environmental Review Overhaul and the Threat to National Security
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The Department of Defense (DoD) faces escalating climate driven threats to infrastructure, readiness, and long term strategic planning. Recent changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), combined with the Supreme Court’s decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, have significantly narrowed federal agencies’ obligations to evaluate indirect and cumulative environmental effects. For the Department of Defense (DoD), these constraints coincide with internal policy shifts that minimize climate considerations despite longstanding Congressional mandates requiring climate impact assessment across military planning, infrastructure sustainment, and acquisition posing a direct threat to national security. This thesis traces NEPA’s legislative development, the rise and dismantling of the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulatory authority, and the DoD’s 2025 overhaul of its environmental review process. It demonstrates how the rollback of climate tools and statutory compliance has created strategic blind spots that undermine readiness. The thesis concludes by recommending DoD and Congressional action to require climate integrated NEPA review for all DoD projects to safeguard national security.
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