This article is the result of an investigation into the presence and installation of the global environmental crisis topic in the institutional discourse related to the United States' national security. It shows how, from very early on, the issue of environmental degradation was understood as a threat to the superpower's security. It spanned a period from the Cold War to the second decade of the 21st century. It was based on a historical methodology that reviewed sources (official documents, articles, books, and specialized studies of the time, press from the political establishment, security and defense institutions, the intelligence community, and sectors of the academy, and specialized Think Tanks. The diachronic temporal narrative was organized into four sections covering the Cold War, the immediate post-Cold War, and the first and second decades of the 21st century.