Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [205]
Mitigation vs. adaptation: Strategies to address climate-change are often framed in the context of mitigation and adaptation actions. Mitigation is a human intervention strategy intended to proactively reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels and to enhance carbon sinks to curtail the future rates of emission. Adaptation strategies are generally more reactive, calling for measures to adjust to rising GHG levels and their climatic effects after the changes have occurred.
Chapter 13:
U.S.S Gerald R. Ford: Construction of this new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier began on 13 November 2009. Scheduled to be commissioned in 2015, it will replace the U.S.S Enterprise. Aircraft carriers are typically deployed as part of a carrier strike or battle group. In addition to the fighter-bomber squadrons and missile defense systems it carries, a carrier strike force has an impressive array of escorts that typically includes a guided missile cruiser, a squadron of several destroyers, frigate support units, and two or more nuclear-powered attack submarines. There are currently twelve carrier battle groups in the U.S. Navy, making it the most formidable blue-water navy in the world.
DEFCON alerts: The Joint Chiefs of Staff created the DEFCON alert system in 1959 to provide a more uniform defense readiness alert condition for all military commands. It features five levels of alert, with DEFCON 5 being least severe and DEFCON 1 being the most severe. The highest confirmed DEFCON was the level-2 alert of the Strategic Air Command in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. ICBM missile sites were at DEFCON 4 throughout much of the Cold War. DEFCON 3 was in force shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
Chapter 14:
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center: In the summer of 2011, the old Walter Reed Hospital was shut down. Many of its functions were consolidated with the Naval Medical Center—commonly called Bethesda Naval Hospital—and the new combined operation renamed Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. For brevity, it is referred to throughout the book as “Walter Reed.”
Chapter 18:
Number One Observatory Circle: The official residence of the Vice President of the United States is located on these grounds. The three-story Victorian-style mansion was built in 1893 as the home of the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Located at 34th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, near Georgetown, it was the official residence of the Chief of Naval Operations from 1923 to 1974. In 1974 it was made available for use by the vice president.
Chapter 20:
Constitutional succession: The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1967 and provides for the succession to the presidency and filling of the vacancy in the office of the vice-president. It replaced the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section I, Clause 6 of the Constitution and has been used six times since its ratification: 1) Gerald Ford’s appointment to fill the vacancy of Spiro Agnew as vice president; 2) Ford’s succession to the presidency vacated by Richard M. Nixon; 3) Nelson Rockefeller’s appointment to replace Ford as vice president; and on three separate occasions when presidents were temporarily incapacitated by surgery. The nomination of a vice president to succeed the previous one requires majority approval from both houses of Congress before becoming effective.
Chapter 21:
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was established in 1961 to bring together countries committed to democracy and the market economy. Its mission is primarily economic in nature, promoting trade, good living standards, financial