Admiral Locklear, head of U.S. Pacific Command, forced to interrupt his climate change planning activities because of North Korea

Last month admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command said that climate change tops the list of security threats for his fleet and that he is "increasingly focused" on it:

Locklear said his Hawaii-based headquarters — which is assigned more than 400,00 military and civilian personnel and is responsible for operations from California to India, is working with Asian nations to stockpile supplies in strategic locations and planning a major exercise for May with nearly two dozen countries to practice the “what-ifs.” --

[W]hen it comes to pragmatic military planning, Locklear said he is increasingly focused on another highly destabilizing force.

“The ice is melting and sea is getting higher,” Locklear said, noting that 80 percent of the world’s population lives within 200 miles of the coast. “I’m into the consequence management side of it. I’m not a scientist, but the island of Tarawa in Kiribati, they’re contemplating moving their entire population to another country because [it] is not going to exist anymore.”

It must have been extremely difficult for the admiral to interrupt his climate threat planning activities in Hawaii for a brief interlude in the Congress today: 

Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un, the country's young and still relatively untested new leader, has used the past year to consolidate his power.

The admiral said Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles represents a clear threat to the United States and its allies in the region.

During an exchange with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Locklear said the U.S. military has the capability to thwart a North Korean strike, but he said a decision on whether a missile should be intercepted should be based on where it is aimed and expected to land.

How reassuring that admiral Locklear considers North Korea at least  a "clear threat", although of course a very minor one compared to the huge threat of climate change, on which he is "increasingly focused".