Congress mandates climate-security intelligence assessments for public review

What it does

This bill requires the Director of National Intelligence to produce a comprehensive intelligence assessment on how climate change affects U.S. national security and economic security, and to submit it to Congress within four years, then every six years thereafter. The assessment may be classified but must include an unclassified summary for public review.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative mechanism is a statutory duty requiring the Director of National Intelligence to produce and submit periodic assessments on climate-security effects to Congress, with public-facing unclassified summaries. It is a transparency and accountability measure, not a regulatory or appropriations instrument.

What the text implies

• Establishes climate change as an explicit national security and economic security priority within the intelligence community, potentially shifting resource allocation and analytical focus within IC agencies.
• Unclassified executive summaries create a public record of official U.S. intelligence on climate-security nexus, which may inform public debate, litigation, and international climate negotiations.
• Six-year assessment cycle creates a rolling baseline for tracking how intelligence community views of climate-security threats evolve over time, enabling congressional and public oversight of IC analytical consistency.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Citizens and their elected representatives gain access to official intelligence assessments on how climate change threatens national and economic security, enabling informed policy debate and oversight. The requirement for an unclassified executive summary ensures public transparency on a matter of broad civic concern.

Named in the bill

Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Council, Intelligence Community, Congressional Intelligence Committees, National Security Act of 1947

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• Sep 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Sep 3, 2025 — Referred to House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $936,377 in lobbying spend. A filing names 56 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Scott Peters, the sponsor, reported $1,197,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Associated Builders and Contractors Inc — $700,000 on 1 filing
• Associated General Contractors of America — $216,377 on 1 filing
• Fact Coalition (a Project of the Fund for Constitutional Government) — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.