Obama's NSA Advisor Likes: Clean Coal, Nuclear, Long Walks On Beach (With Drilling Apparatus)

For a lot of the folks who voted for Barack Obama, promoting "national security" means weaning ourselves from dirty fuel sources.

For the man Obama tapped as his national security advisor, James L. Jones, things aren't so clear cut, Robert Dreyfuss reports in The Nation.

Over the course of a long military career, James established himself as a paid-up member of the national security establishment. Before retiring from the Marines in 2007, he served as the commander of the U.S. European Command and also the supreme allied commander in Europe, i.e. leader of NATO.

What he did next will please few Grist readers, especially those who criticized the Bush administration for its ties to the oil industry: Not pausing to let the revolving door hit him on the ass on the way out, Jones immediately joined the boards of Chevron and Boeing, Dreyfuss reports. He also became president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy. The group's agenda makes dismal reading. To wit:

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[jsgaetano]

"Clean Coal" is a huge lie. Just because you take your poison and waste and stuff it down a deep hole doesn't mean it's clean.

[Sumocat]

I especially like how Grist ties his military interest to Africa to an interest in its oil supply. Sorry Africa. We finally have a national security advisor who thinks your security is critical to ours, but Grist says forget it because he's only after your oil, which is ironic since so many progressives claim we don't care about Africa because you don't have oil. Yeah, I don't quite get it either.

[ChamberPost]

How sad that Grist felt compelled to only link to the parts of the Institute's plan they disagree with and not the full list. Draw your own conclusions here:

http://www.energyxxi.org/reports/Transition_Plan.pdf

[bthechangeyouseek]

Truly your digging up this information is important, but...

We trust Obama will follow through with clean energy. People can change once they know the truth. I have no doubts that Jones will not be setting policy, and therefore trust in the decisions Obama has made. Who knows Jones may be the one to convert other lost souls on dirty energies.

With that in mind, there is no such thing as clean coal. Extracting it pollutes the ground and water, and processing it pollutes our air. We must move away from dirty energies and towards a greener U.S.


Watch: "Burning the Future: Coal in America"

[OriginalScreenName]

In other news, our energy policy is not dictated by the national security adviser.