Retired Generals, Admirals Consider Oil Dependence A Security Risk

WASHINGTON — An advisory group of retired generals and admirals said in a report issued Monday that reducing America's reliance on oil and addressing climate change are critical for future national security.

The report, presented to members of Congress and the Pentagon, said that energy security and efforts to reduce the risks of climate change should be included in the nation's national security and military planning.

The retired, high-ranking military officers concluded that overreliance on oil _ not just foreign oil _ leaves the country vulnerable to unstable and hostile countries. They said future oil markets will be marked by limited supplies and increasing demand, posing a national security risk.

"U.S. dependence on oil weakens international leverage, undermines foreign policy objectives and entangles America with unstable or hostile regimes," said the report, written by the Military Advisory Board of CNA, a nonprofit research organization. The board is made up of some retired senior officers of all branches of the military.

The report was released as the House began work on a sweeping climate bill in its Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill would put limits on greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, and give incentives for development of noncarbon energy sources.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that he strongly agrees "with the stark conclusions" made by the advisory group, including that the competition for oil in the coming years is likely to precipitate conflicts.

"Energy security is national security," said Lugar.

The report identified a number of risks created by America's current energy policies and practices.

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The concerns extend beyond America's dependence on foreign oil, the report says, because no matter what the source, America's dependence on oil "undermines economic stability, which is critical to national security."

Also, the report called for modernizing the nation's electric power system. The country's "fragile domestic electricity grid makes our domestic military installations and their critical infrastructure unnecessarily vulnerable to incident, whether deliberate or accidental," said the report.

The report raised alarm about three converging concerns: A future global oil market shaped by limited supplies and increasing demand, rising fossil fuel prices caused by regulating climate-changing emissions, and the impacts of climate change on global insecurity.

"Confronting these converging risks is critical to ensuring America's secure energy future," said the report.

Retired Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald, the advisory board's chairman, said in a statement, "We cannot turn a blind eye to the dangerous realities of our energy situation."

"There is a relationship between the major challenges we're facing. Energy security, economics, climate change, these things are connected," added retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, a former U.S. Army chief of staff.

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On the Net:

CNA: http://www.cna.org

Comments

[Whitley2009]

The generals are right, of course, but the real question is how we go about escaping the clutches of OPEC and BigOilandGas in Texas. We need to spread our energy production throughout America, not just centralize it down in Texas on big farms of windmills. We need create windmill farms, plantings of more biomass for fuel, and use of the new alternative fuel systems in our car, trucks, boats, planes, etc. in programs throughout America. This will give us an increase of national security. But to put our energy production on some fool's windmill farm down in Texas and expect it to furnish most of the power for the Midwest and Northeast is silly - and dangerous. Yet, the Texas BigOilandGas boys will bilk us of every dime they can get out of Washington. We need to diversify our locations of power production and storage. We need hydrogen generation in our homes, businesses, industries, and our transportation systems, and we need it now.

http://www.lulu.com/whitley See The Interstate Highway and Electric Grid Ethanol Plan as one possible addition to a comprehensive plan.

[lmpub]

People can't ignore the fact that changing our energy ways is no longer a view held by a small group of environmental activists. Look around the world at some of the biggest oil producing regions: the Middle East; Venezuela; Nigeria; Russia. All are either unstable or hostile to US interests. And with countries like China and India growing rapidly and being in greater need for oil than ever before, future conflicts over oil are inevitable, unless we change.

[MikeyLikesGreen]

The military is one of the biggest roadblocks to this type of renewable energy development today. They don't want wind turbines due to radar interferance across the entire desert of the southwest. My company's motto is: " Renewable Energy is America's Strategic Security for the 21st Century". I took that position over two years ago because the military failed to. BLM really doesn't want to do anything about renewables and the military wants to block development, so what gives? I'm glad that Generals and Admirals are finally be getting it but they are retired, where were they when they were active?

Themilitary needs its operation areas for low and high altitude flight including flight corridors and other operational considerations but each branch doesn't need to be independant, they can do joint use operational consolidation along with real assessment of need versus future desired potential need.

A strong renewable action policy, not talking policy is what we need. Lets take action by putting on the grid 100,000 megawatts of renewable and sustainable power. The military has the technology to work around wind turbines just not the attitude.

[TxAggie]

It is ironic that the Generals are concerned about our dependence on oil while they do nothing about it with the armed services. Our ships, planes, tanks, trucks use one hell of a lot of petroleum products while they give us hell in the limited portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico were we can drill wells because our operations disrupt their operations. It seems that everyone hates petroleum but everybody sure likes to use the products derived from it.

[way2muchsense]

THANK YOU!!!!!

Seriously, this is what I've been trying to tell these SUV-driving fools for years, that the frivolous wasting of gas/diesel is detrimental to our national security. In other words, it doesn't support the troops to use more than you need, no matter how many yellow-ribbon magnets you have on the back of your Tahoe. Right-sizing your vehicle choices saves you money, saves the planet, and supports the troops. It's a winner all the way around.

[Montreaux1991]

Exactly.

And also look at posters from WWII: They encouraged walking, riding bicycles, carpooling, and mass transit to REDUCE our use of fuel for both national security reasons, besides ensuring our troops had a ready supply.

It's a damn shame it stopped after the war ended. We could have had a mass transit system to rival Europe, but instead, they invested in highways and the family gas guzzler.

[TJCole]

Well then Generals Grow Hemp..!

Hemp4Fuel

Grow Here Grow Now..!

http://hemp4fuel.com/

It renews every 4 months...and eats CO2 like crazy...

Cellulose ethanol and bio diesel from the seeds take your pick....also charcoal that burns cleaner than so called "clean coal..."

[economics101]

I like that,good idea,please tell me your not a full blown Liberal

[Montreaux1991]

Who cares if he is? It's a brilliant idea.

[lizardbrain]

Energy Independence is the unifying theme for alternative energy.
http://www.dasolar.com/alternative-energy/energy-independence

[Haditup2here]

They are only stating what a number of people had recognize ten years ago -- not to mention the Oil Crisis that occurred when Carter was president.

[Gasparilla]

Exactly correct. And the fact is that we are sending money to governments who are frequently hostile to us and they give it to groups that are doing their best to attack us. We're funding terrorism with our own money.

[economics101]

DRILL,NUCLEAR,NO OBAMA

[Montezuma1973]

Wrt to you "DRILL", I guess you did not read this part of the article:

"The retired, high-ranking military officers concluded that overreliance on oil _ not just foreign oil _ leaves the country vulnerable to unstable and hostile countries."

Notice "_ not just foreign oil _"?

But you probably did not read the article, but instead decided to post your opinion.

[lightningbolt]

There is not enough oil in the US to just drill our way out of the crisis without tangling ourselves up with foreign governments. Nuclear is an option, but we will also run out of uranium. The only way to solve this crisis is to use renewable clean energy. Solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal energy provide vast amounts of energy without forcing us to deal with hostile governments.

[progressivelady]

test

[gladiator777]

Perhaps the smartest thing would be to drill everything we can now.....while we work towards finding the best alternative energy? At least we won't be so dependent while were working....Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure that one out...dear god if people can't figure this one out....

Where's edward gibbons when you need him.....we need to start writing that next book......

[KillTheMessenger]

Fun aside... we are drilling everything we can now. We have been all along. The result: peak oil in the US in 1970. Discoveries have been less than production since the 1980s and despite seismic techniques and supercomputers we are now discovering less oil than those cowboys with their home made rigs did by random drilling in the 1930s.

:-)

[BrettnCalgary]

Heck, North American supplies should be hoarded and imports used as much as possible until they disappear, it's not going to be a long wait.

I wonder when these military types signed onto the socialist Algore conspiracy for one world government?

[BlackbirdHighway]

We now have five times as many oil wells as we did in the 70's, yet we only produce half as much oil.

Go to your favorite fast food restaurant, get a Coke and suck on the straw until you hear a slurping sound. Try sticking more straws in the drink to see if you get more soda. Then you will understand the situation we are in with regard to oil.

[KillTheMessenger]

No... you don't understand... in his worldview oil reservoirs come with refill and the world is an all-you-can-eat buffet.

[KillTheMessenger]

Yawn. One of the great visionaries of American defense, Admiral Rickover had this insight five decades ago:

http://gailtheactuary.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/speech-from-1957-predicting-peak-oil/