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Energy powers the American economy, but it also presents a threat as grave as any foreign army or terrorist group. How the nation gets and consumes energy puts our security at risk, every day. The oil we use empowers hostile states and terrorist groups and fosters instability. The system of energy supply, from oil pipelines to the electric grid, is vulnerable to attack and natural disasters. The fuel we burn, especially oil and coal, contributes to climate change, which has the potential to destroy our way of life. Through its Energy and National Security program, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) seeks to integrate communities of interest, improve the flow of information to decisionmakers, and design practical strategies and policies for achieving energy security.
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 Author: Amy Myers Jaffe
March 2008—A key barrier the United States must tackle in working toward energy security is the difficult nature of the international energy problems the world faces today. The international community is facing the most challenging energy market it has seen in two decades. Oil price volatility has included record swings...
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 On July 27-30, 2008, CNAS will host an international climate change exercise in Washington, D.C., along with a Climate Change Consortium of seven organizations. Using war game and scenario planning techniques developed by the military and private industry, the exercise will examine the national and international security implications of global climate change. Led by CNAS, the Consortium includes the Center for American Progress, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Brookings Global Economy and Development. Read the Press Release here. |
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 Author: Josh Busby
January 2008—The structure and nature of the U.S. political system makes comprehensive and coherent reform in energy policy difficult. The system has an unusually large number of policy gatekeepers who can block policy change, and interest groups often successfully mobilize to pressure these veto players ... |
 CNAS convened scientists, environmentalists, national security experts and politicians to debate a comprehensive strategy to meet the long-term challenge of energy security. According to CNAS, both oil dependence and the consequences of climate change present grave threats to the security of the nation. CNAS, therefore, set the strategic goal of the Solarium exercise to be reaching an economy no longer dependent on oil and coal over a 40 timeframe. |
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 In a two-page feature published in the National Journal, Margaret Kriz outlines the findings of the recently released ground breaking report, "Age of Consequences." Kurt Campbell, CEO of CNAS, said in an interview with Kriz that, "although Americans regularly develop long-term plans for anticipated military, social, and governmental changes, the United States has been slow to respond to global-warming threats."
Climate change could be one of the greatest national security challenges ever faced by U.S. policy makers, raising the threat of dramatic migrations, wars over water and resources, and a realignment of power among nations, said a joint study by two U.S. think tanks.
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Last week Al Gore’s nonprofit organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, launched the “We Campaign,” a $300 million public awareness campaign aiming to move climate change up the nation’s priority list and increase constituent pressure on decision makers in Washington. However, oil companies, utility representatives, and a variety of other organizations have all recently run ads strikingly similar in content and advocating countless “solutions” to this set of problems... Read More
Is climate change really a national security issue? We think so. Our three-day wargame, Clout and Climate Change: A New Global Agenda for the 21st Century will focus on “gaming” how the world’s major emitters – the United States, China, India, and the European Union – are likely to adapt to climate change in the future and assess the consequences of their decisions. We are focusing on these countries... Read More
Today’s popular media has increasingly focused the public’s attention on the issue of human-caused climate change. Yet the media has not been effective in persuading the public that global climate change is a looming danger. A fundamental change in the perception of this threat is critical if people are to alter personal behavior to mitigate these concerns and provide the political capital necessary for legislators to address climate change effectively. Unfortunately, the very politicization of a fundamentally scientific issue may further hinder the process of resolving it. Read More
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"The livelihoods of tens of millions of Vietnamese are threatened by global warming..."
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Read More)
-Climate change threatens VN
Viet Nam News--May 26, 2008
"...destructive cyclones are likely to occur more often, unless nations increased efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions."
(Read More)
-Warning climate change could
increase damaging cyclones,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation--
May 12, 2008
"...while temperature changes will be much more extreme at high latitudes, tropical species have a far greater risk of extinction with warming of just a degree or two."
(Read More)
-Trouble in Paradise: Global
Warming A Greater Danger
To Tropical Species,
Science Daily--May 6, 2008
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