Energy
With the world more than 80 percent dependent on oil, coal, and natural gas to fuel vehicles, light and heat homes, and drive industry and agriculture, energy is essential for all aspects of human life. Global dependence on these fuels and the concentration of supplies in a limited number of countries mean that energy is a national security issue, and these resources are associated with geostrategic pressure, instability, and vulnerability, including for the U.S. military.
Our Work:
U.S. Energy Security and the Role of DOD Fuels
The Department of Defense's (DOD) fuel use constitutes a geopolitical, strategic, and operational vulnerability for the United States. CNAS is conducting a three-part study to determine what needs to happen technically, economically, strategically, procedurally, and culturally at DoD in order to reduce these vulnerabilities. This project will highlight ongoing efforts by the U.S. military to mitigate the well-documented fuel energy risks each service is contending with, and chart a path forward on improving DOD energy security.
Click here to learn more about our work on energy.
Author(s): Annie Snider
Source: Politics Daily
Date: 05/30/2010
May 30, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore discusses the evolution of the Navy's preparations for dealing with climate change in an interview with Politics Daily.
| more |Author(s): Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Source: Roll Call
Date: 05/20/2010
May 20, 2010 – Christine Parthemore and Will Rogers examine in on Sen. Lamar Alexander’s proposal to house nuclear reactors on military bases ion a new op-ed in Roll Call, arguing that the potential benefits of the proposal must be weighed against “materials proliferation, water usage, radioactive waste management and public opinion [concerns].”
| more |Author(s): Juliet Eilperin
Source: The Washington Post
Date: 04/29/2010
April 29, 2010 – The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin highlights the growing recognition that climate change is a national security threat, citing CNAS’ recently released reports on the military’s adaptation to climate change and the need for increased cooperation between climate scientists and policymakers.
| more |Author(s): Jessica Leber
Source: E&E Publishing
Date: 04/27/2010
April 27, 2010 - CNAS researcher Will Rogers talks to E&E about Lost in Translation, his recently released report on the need for increased coordination between climate scientists and national security policymakers, saying “They are almost quietly literally speaking past each other”.
| more |Author(s): Eli Kintisch
Source: Science's 'ScienceInsider' blog
Date: 04/26/2010
April 26, 2010 – Lost in Translation, CNAS’s recently released report by Will Rogers and Jay Gulledge on the need for cooperation between climate scientists and policymakers, is covered by Science magazine’s ScienceInsider blog.
| more |Author(s): Tamara Lytle
Source: AOL News
Date: 04/21/2010
April 20, 2010 – CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore explains the balancing act the U.S. military faces in adapting to climate change to AOL News, saying “We can't say, 'Oh, we should fly less…The goal has to be to fulfill U.S. military missions. What we need to do is ensure we have sustainable supplies of those fuels over the long term.”
| more |Author(s): Suzanne Goldenberg
Source: The Guardian
Date: 01/31/2010
January 31, 2010 - CNAS fellow Christine Parthemore discusses the Pentagon's consideration of climate change in the QDR in an article in The Guardian, "The leadership of the Pentagon has very strongly indicated that they do consider climate change to be a national security issue...They are considering climate change on a par with the political and economic factors as the key drivers that are shaping the world."
| more |Author(s): Sharon Burke
Source: Defense News
Date: 10/12/2009
October 12, 2009 - CNAS Vice President for Natural Security Sharon Burke writes in Defense News on how the limited supply and access to critical minerals, including those used in cell phones and several U.S. defense systems, is a direct national security concern.
| more |Author(s): Zarrin Caldwell
Source: IPS
Date: 10/06/2009
October 6, 2009 - CNAS Vice President for Natural Security Sharon Burke discusses the link between critical mineral availability and national security. "The U.S. sends many of its minerals overseas to be refined," she said, but "very few people are looking at this issue in a strategic sense, or at what it means for the dependencies created in the U.S. economy and the defense industry."
| more |Author(s): Tabassum Zakaria
Source: Reuters
Date: 09/24/2009
September 24, 2009 - In his keynote address at the launch of CNAS's new report China's Arrival: A Strategic Framework for a Global Relationship, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg discussed a dispute over tire imports from China. "U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Thursday he believed that China and the United States did not want a trade dispute on tires to spark a trade war."
| more |Author(s): Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 06/03/2010
In the 21st century, the security of nations will depend increasingly on the security of natural resources, or “natural security.” This report points to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Mexico and Yemen as examples for how natural security challenges within those countries borders are directly linked to regional stability and U.S. security and foreign policy interests.
| more |Author(s): Herb Carmen, Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 04/28/2010
Broadening Horizons is an edited volume featuring four chapters and a capstone piece that explores the dual pressures of climate change and energy on each U.S. military service and combatant command and offers a road ahead to improve the country's ability to promote national security in the face of a changing climate.
| more |Author(s): Will Rogers, Jay Gulledge
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 04/25/2010
This report explores the gap between the science and policy communities and offers recommendations for how they can work together to ensure the United States can effectively plan for the national security implications of climate change.
| more |Author(s): Herb Carmen, Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 04/22/2010
The Broadening Horizons capstone report, authored by CNAS Senior Military Fellow Commander Herbert E. Carmen, USN, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore and CNAS Research Assistant Will Rogers, provides an overview of the implications of climate change for DOD, the military services and the combatant commands, and makes recommendations to help the United States better navigate the potential geopolitical implications of the changing climate.
| more |Author(s): Herb Carmen, Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 04/22/2010
In this working paper, CNAS Senior Military Fellow Commander Herbert E. Carmen, USN, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore and CNAS Research Assistant Will Rogers focus on the six geographic combatant commands as a way to address the effects of climate change and related energy security challenges on U.S. national security interests in regions across the globe.
| more |Author(s): Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 04/22/2010
In this working paper, CNAS Research Assistant Will Rogers synthesizes how America’s air forces are considering climate change, identifies the role energy concerns play in the services’ decision-making calculations and offers recommendations on how to better integrate energy security and climate change concerns into near- and long-term strategic planning.
| more |Author(s): Christine Parthemore
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 04/07/2010
In this working paper, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore identifies important aspects of what the effects of climate change could mean for U.S. ground forces, and highlights important questions for further research.
| more |Author(s): Christine Parthemore
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 03/11/2010
In this working paper, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore synthesizes how the maritime services are thinking about climate change and assesses potential policy implications.
| more |Author(s): Christine Parthemore, Will Rogers
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 01/24/2010
In this working paper, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore and Research Assistant Will Rogers provide observations about how the Department of Defense incorporated climate change into the QDR process in order to meet its congressional requirement and some potential outcomes of that process.
| more |Author(s): Sharon Burke
Type of Publication: Working Papers
Date: 06/11/2009
In the 21st century, the security of nations will increasingly depend on the security of natural resources, or “natural security.” This concept paper outlines a new program of study at the Center for a New American Security to look at emerging natural resources challenges in six key areas of consumption and consequences – energy, minerals, water, land, climate change, and biodiversity – as well as the ways in which these challenges are linked together.
| more |Speaker(s): The Honorable Carol M. Browner, Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom
Type: Transcript
Date: 05/05/2010
On April 28, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) hosted the event Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment featuring Carol Browner, the Assistant to the President for Climate Change and Energy and a panel that included David Kilcullen, Robert Kaplan, RADM Philip Cullom, and Christine Parthemore. Following the link is the full transcript.
| more |Speaker(s): The Honorable Carol M. Browner
Type: Video
Date: 04/28/2010
The Honorable Carol M. Browner, Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, delivered the keynote address at the recent CNAS event, "Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment."
| more |
Speaker(s): David Kilcullen, Robert Kaplan, Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom
Type: Video
Date: 04/28/2010
On April 28, 2010, the Center for a New American Security hosted an event on the effects of climate change on our armed services. Following a keynote address by Carol Browner, the President's Special Assistant for Energy and Climate Change, a panel featuring David Kilcullen, RADM Philip Cullom, Robert Kaplan, and Christine Parthemore discussed the economic, political, and geostrategic dimensions of climate change and the role our national security apparatus will play in addressing them.
| more |Speaker(s): Sharon Burke, Dr. Kurt M. Campbell, Zoe Baird, Frank Verrastro
Type: Video
Date: 05/04/2009
On April 29, 2009, the Center for a New American Security brought together over 80 leading experts in the energy and defense industries to discuss energy security in the context of U.S. national security.
| more |Type: Audio
Date: 02/24/2009
In his new book, The GET, Robert Hefner shows that civilization is experiencing the last stage of what history will record as a brief liquid energy transition between unsustainable, dirty, limited solid forms of energy to a future epoch of sustainable, clean, virtually limitless gaseous forms of energy. He believes this natural evolutionary energy transition reveals which energy sources and technologies are the most likely winners that will accelerate energy use toward a sustainable future. Hefner proposes policies that will level the economic playing field among competing energy sources and technologies, and work to accelerate the GET. He believes that by implementing policies that result in natural gas use for a major sector of our vehicle fleet as well as most non-wind and solar produced electric power by 2020, America can accomplish many of its near and mid-term energy and environmental goals.
| more |Type: Video
Date: 02/20/2008
On February 20, 2008, the Center for a New American Security hosted "Solarium II: American Grand Strategy" at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event brought together prominent national security thinkers and practitioners for a one-day colloquium concerning America’s purpose and place in the world.
04/28/2010
On April 28, 2010, the Center for a New American Security hosted President Obama's Assistant for Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner at an event on Natural Security, a CNAS program that examines how climate change, energy, and natural resources challenges affect U.S. national security. The event will also feature a roundtable discussion among top national security experts - including David Kilcullen, Rear Admiral Philip Cullom, Robert Kaplan and Christine Parthemore - who addressed how these issues affect the current and future global security environment.
| more |04/26/2010
April 26, 2010 - National security policymakers point to climate change as a key trend that will shape the current and future global security environment, but do not always have the scientific information they need to plan and prepare for the security challenges it may cause, according to a report released today by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
| more |04/22/2010
April 22, 2010 - The effects of climate change and the way we use energy are significant U.S. national security challenges. Addressing them will be increasingly important for our nation's defense. The new CNAS report released today, Broadening Horizons: Climate Change and the U.S. Armed Forces, examines the dual pressures of climate change and energy on each U.S.
| more |01/26/2010
As the Department of Defense (DOD) prepares to send the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) to Congress, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) today released a working paper by Christine Parthemore and Will Rogers, Promoting the Dialogue: Climate Change and the Quadrennial Defense Review, examining how DOD considered the effects of climate change during the QDR process.
| more |06/09/2009
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 9, 2009 - CNAS has released several new reports and working papers for its third annual conference, “Striking a Balance: A New American Security" on Thursday, June 11. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Natural Security, and combating violent extremism. Each report offers strong, principled and pragmatic recommendations on how to strike a balance between immediate and long-term national security challenges facing the United States.
| more |04/06/2009
WASHINGTON, DC, April 6, 2009 - The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and the Vice President for Natural Security, Sharon Burke, are pleased to announce the launch of The Big Energy Map, an interactive map that traces how the federal government is set up to make and execute energy and climate security policy.
Visit the site: http://www.bigenergymap.org
| more |12/12/2008
WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2008 - President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have cited energy independence and tackling climate change as top priorities for their administration. The announcement of their energy and environment team will provide a fuller picture of what form his administration's energy security agenda will take.
But is the federal government up to the task?
09/23/2008
Washington, DC, September 23, 2008 - Yesterday markets witnessed the single biggest dollar jump in the price of crude oil in history. While the concept of “peak oil” – the notion that the world is running out of oil – remains controversial, it is certainly realistic to think ahead about the national security and foreign policy consequences of a world in which there is not enough oil supply to meet demand.
| more |Speaker(s): The Honorable Carol M. Browner, David Kilcullen, Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom
Date: April 28, 2010 - 3:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: The Willard InterContinental Hotel - Washington, DC
Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change; David Kilcullen, RADM Philip Hart Cullom, USN, Robert Kaplan, and Christine Parthemore spoke at a CNAS event addressing the effects of climate change on our national security on Wednesday, April 28.
| more |Speaker(s): Sharon Burke
Date: November 18, 2009 - 8:30am - 3:45pm
The Defense Attachés Association, in consultation with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), hosted their annual conference, Strategic Resources and Global Security Trends, on November 18, 2009, at the Embassy of New Zealand. This event, an effort led in part by Sharon Burke, vice president for Natural Security at CNAS, brought together defense attachés from over 40 countries, as well as U.S. military service personnel and civilian leaders at the Department of Defense, to discuss global security trends, including natural resource scarcity, energy security and climate change. Participants also included representatives from CNA, the New America Foundation, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
| more |Date: September 16, 2009 - 2:00pm - 4:30pm
The Center for a New American Security hosted Rear Admiral Philip Cullom and Rear Admiral David Titley for a discussion on how the Department of Defense is incorporating concerns about global climate change into strategic planning. The event was in response to the Navy's recent studies on how climate change affects its facilities, capabilities, and missions.
| more |Date: July 21, 2009 - 2:30pm - 4:00pm
Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building - Washington, DC
Center for a New American Security's Vice President for Natural Security Sharon E. Burke will testify July 21, 2009 at a Senate hearing on climate change and global security. The hearing has been called by Senator John Kerry, D-MA, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing will be streamed live here.
| more |Speaker(s): The Honorable Judith McHale, Honorable Dr. Richard J. Danzig, GEN Jack Keane, Sharon Burke, Dr. John A. Nagl, Thomas E. Ricks, Nathaniel C. Fick, Dr. Kurt M. Campbell, Ambassador Wendy R. Sherman, General David H. Petraeus, George Packer, Professor Andrew J. Bacevich, Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, Lt. General David W. Barno, Roderick G. Eggert, Peter H. Gleick, Dennis C. Wilder, Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie, The Honorable John Warner, Dr. Victor Cha, Colonel Christopher G. Cavoli, Commander Esther J. McClure, Ambassador Thomas C. Hubbard, Nazar Janabi
Date: June 11, 2009 - 7:45am - 7:00pm
Location: Willard InterContinental Hotel - Washington, DC
Striking a Balance: A New American Security was an all-day CNAS conference highlighting the major foreign policy and national security challenges facing our nation in the critical time ahead.
| more |Speaker(s): Sharon Burke, Dr. Kurt M. Campbell, Zoe Baird, Frank Verrastro
Date: April 29, 2009 - 9:00am - 5:30pm
Location: The Willard Intercontinental Hotel - Washington, DC
On April 29, 2009, the Center for a New American Security held an off-the-record working conference on Mapping U.S. Energy and Climate Security. This day-long event included more than 60 leading experts in energy and climate security from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academia, and federal, state and local government agencies.
| more |Speaker(s): Robert Kaplan
Date: April 15, 2009 - 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Location: Center for a New American Security - Washington, DC
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) was pleased to host an exclusive press briefing of Robert Kaplan's article in Foreign Policy magazine entitled "The Revenge of Geography" on April 15, 2009.
| more |Date: February 24, 2009 - 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Location: Center for American Progress - Washington, DC
In his new book, The GET, Robert Hefner shows that civilization is experiencing the last stage of what history will record as a brief liquid energy transition between unsustainable, dirty, limited solid forms of energy to a future epoch of sustainable, clean, virtually limitless gaseous forms of energy.
| more |Speaker(s): Sharon Burke
Date: September 26, 2008 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Location: The United State Capitol Building
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) held a congressional staff briefing on the recently published report A Strategy for American Power: Energy, Climate and National Security with Sharon Burke, Senior Fellow at CNAS, and special guests.
| more |Speaker(s): Honorable Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, Honorable Richard L. Armitage, The Honorable Carol M. Browner, Honorable Dr. Richard J. Danzig, LTG Karl Eikenberry, Honorable Lindsey O. Graham, Dr. John G. Ikenberry, GEN Jack Keane, William Kristol, Dr. Suzanne Maloney, John Melia, Lt Gen Greg S. Newbold, Dr. Joseph S. Nye, Honorable Dr. William J. Perry, John Podesta, Dr. Mitchell B. Reiss, Ambassador Dennis Ross, David E. Sanger, GEN Charles F. Wald, Sharon Burke, Michèle A. Flournoy, Dr. Colin Kahl, Dr. Kurt M. Campbell, Dr. Michael Green, Robert Kaplan
Date: June 11, 2008 (All day)
Location: The Willard Intercontinental - Washington, DC
Pivot Point: New Directions for American Security was a one-day CNAS conference highlighting the major foreign policy and national security challenges facing our nation in the critical time ahead.
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