Food and Security

ARTICLE: Mullen Directs DOD To Assess Security Impacts Of Global Food Crisis, Inside The Pentagon…Jason Sherman, May 8, 2008, pg.1

The Pentagon’s top officer has directed his staff to size up the national security implications of what many experts believe is a global food crisis, the latest development in a wider push by Defense Department planners to increasingly factor non-military dynamics with the potential to disrupt international order into contingency plans.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last week directed the Joint Staff to examine whether the recent spike in the prices of food staples like wheat, corn, soy and rice, which some food aid experts warn could trigger unrest around the world, presents a challenge the Pentagon should consider, according to military sources.

Reinforces the importance of systems or strategic thinking, e.g., changes in one area can contribute to effects on others.