Center for a New American Security

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. In 2010, CNAS conducted 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 highlights ongoing efforts by the U.S. military to mitigate the well-documented fuel energy risks each service is contending with, and charts a path forward on improving DOD energy security.

Read the Report:  Fueling the Future Force: Preparing the Department of Defense for a Post-Petroleum Era

In Fueling the Future Force: Preparing the Department of Defense for a Post-Petroleum Era, report authors Christine Parthemore and John Nagl argue that to ready America’s armed forces for tomorrow’s challenges, DOD should ensure that it can operate all of its systems on non-petroleum fuels by 2040. Parthemore and Nagl recommend 12 specific guiding principles that will help DOD map a path forward that relies on technological innovation, fuel source diversification and efficiency to hedge against price spikes and scarcities and to accommodate America’s economic, political and environmental needs. The authors argue that by planning now around these likely future conditions, DOD can weather change, protect its own interests, reduce its vulnerability to extreme price spikes and – most importantly – ensure that it can meet its mandate to protect the nation’s security.

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