During the speech at the Iowa State Fair on August 11th, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told the crowd, “Four years ago I came here to Iowa and I was asked what is the major national security issue we face? And people thought I’d say ISIS or al Qaeda that those are big issues. The answer that I gave in terms of national security is climate change.”

Climate change is seen by many countries as the top international threat, followed by the ISIS, according to a 26-nation survey conducted in the spring of 2018.

According to the survey, however, people in the United States ranked cyberattacks as the number one most pressing international issue.

On his campaign page, Sanders also warns that “climate change is the single greatest threat facing our planet.”

If elected president, Sanders promises to pass the Green New Deal, a controversial proposal started by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that aims to move all energy production to sustainable methods. The proposal, according to Sanders, would, “protect workers and the communities in which they live to ensure a transition to family-sustaining wage, union jobs.”

The deal has been criticized as being a “radical front for nationalizing our economy,” by Ryan Bourne of the Cato Institute in USA Today, and, “an untrammeled Dear Santa letter without form, purpose, borders, or basis in reality,” by Charles Cooke in National Review.