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Prof. Adil Najam<\/a>, the Director of the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, spoke on how global climate change can become a major threat to global human well being and security at a major conference on\u00a0The Day Before: A Conference on the National Security Implications of Climate Change<\/a><\/em>, co-hosted by the\u00a0American Security Project (ASP) and George Washington University\u2019s Elliott School of International Affairs, on September 10, 2009. Other presenters included key military and public leaders including:\u00a0Jim Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); General Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.); Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, USN (Ret.); Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University; Dr. Charles Glaser, Ms. Ladeene Freimuth; and ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard Finel.<\/p>\n The conference was also addressed by Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), former Presidential Candidate and Chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Later, Senator Kerry hosted an informal meeting at the U.S. Capitol for the speakers, including Prof. Najam, to meet key U.S. Senators interested in national security and climate change.<\/p>\n In his speech, Prof. Najam highlighted the need to rethink the meaning of security, especially in the context of climate change and to focus on the human dimensions of insecurity. He pointed out that while climate change was clearly a security ‘problem,’ there was no security ‘solution’ to climate change and that there was a danger that if we “securitized the climate problem we would also end up securitizing the solution to climate change.” Prof. Najam stressed that climate was a ‘threat multiplier’ and the correct security response to it was to address climate change before it can multiply critical security threats. (Also see, here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n