CIA spooks investigate geoengineering to fix climate

Peter Aldhous in New Scientist reports that the CIA is not interested in offensive uses for geoengineering. How comforting: You could say the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is late to the geoengineering party – at least compared to its British counterpart. But it has now arrived, with an influential friend in tow: the CIA.

This week in Washington DC, a panel of experts convened by the NAS met for the first time to embark on a study that will consider the risks and benefits of engineering solutions to dangerous climate change by sequestering away carbon dioxide or reflecting solar radiation back out into space.

The Royal Society delivered a similar report in 2009, so it should come as no great surprise that the NAS is considering the pros and cons of geoengineering. But the fact that the study's funders include the CIA has caused a media buzz. "Conspiracy theorists, rejoice!" noted Mother Jones, invoking memories of the Vietnam war when the US military seeded clouds in an attempt to turn the Vietcong's supply lines into a quagmire.

In fact, the CIA's main interest in geoengineering does not lie in any offensive use. Rather, the US intelligence community sees climate change as a potential threat to global geopolitical stability, and so wants a thorough analysis of the mitigation options. "On a subject like climate change, the agency works with scientists to better understand the phenomenon and its implications on national security," says Ned Price, a CIA spokesperson...