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 Security and Climate Change project, 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.
September 8, 2010 - In South Asia’s Geography of Conflict, CNAS Senior Fellow and acclaimed author Robert D. Kaplan provides a detailed analysis of South Asia's history and geography including the broad arc of territory from Afghanistan southeastward into northern India and highlights India’s pivotal role in the region. Watch a CNAS exclusive interview with Bob Kaplan on South Asia’s Geography of Conflict here.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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In this working paper, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore synthesizes how the maritime services are thinking about climate change and assesses potential policy implications.
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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 |August 9, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers comments on the Senate's recent approval of additional funds for the Navy's alternative fuel research.
| more |July 19, 2012 — Will Rogers writes about the challenges posed by the intersection of urbanization and climate change in GT2030.com, a blog launched by the National Intelligence Council in advance of Global Trends 2030, a publication released after every presidential election to brief the incoming administration on important dynamics influencing the the global strategic landscape.
| more |July 16, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers discusses long-term trends in arctic oil exploration and development and how they will affect U.S. energy security in an interview with UPI.
| more |June 11, 2012 — In an interview with The Daily, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers discusses the challenges that the United States faces with securing its interests in the Arctic.
| more |June 7, 2012 — In an op-ed for Consumer Energy Report, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers explains the linked but distinct efforts by the U.S. military to address its energy challenges.
| more |May 21, 2012 — CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers writes in the National Journal about how the U.S. military’s investment in biofuels is first and foremost about ensuring that soldiers, sailors and airmen have access to the fuel they need to conduct their operations and protect U.S. interests.
| more |May 21, 2012 — In his first of a series of op-eds for Consumer Energy Report, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers states that natural resource issues need to be more routinely integrated into the broad range of national security planning documents.
| more |May 16, 2012 — May 16, 2012 - Will Rogers writes in Foreign Policy about the national security benefits of ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention.
| more |March 24, 2012 — U.S. interests in the Arctic Circle continue to increase with regard to maintaining open sea lanes and claiming rights to natural resources on the sea floor, according to an interview with CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers in the Marine Corps Times.
| more |March 19, 2012 — CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers writes in the National Journal, discussing what the United States must do to manage increasing gasoline prices as uncertainty looms abroad.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a consortium of ten partner organizations hosted an international “war game” from July 28, 2008 through July 30, 2008. This exercise used war gaming and scenario planning techniques to assess the potential threats and responses to global climate change. Such techniques have proven to be useful to militaries and businesses all over the world in understanding and dealing with complex and uncertain contingencies.
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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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CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore discusses the Defense Department's unsustainable dependence on petroleum and the vision for an alternatively fueled DoD by the year 2040 set forth in her report, Fueling the Future Force: Preparing the Department of Defense for a Post-Petroleum Era.
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Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy delivered the keynote address at the CNAS 4th annual conference "Shaping the Agenda: American National Security in the 21st Century," and discussed challenges and opportunities to rebalance and reform U.S. instruments of soft power.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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Download the transcript from the November 18, 2009 speech by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on strategic energy use and the U.S. Navy at the Defense Attachés Association's annual conference, Strategic Resources and Global Security Trends.
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CNAS Vice President for Natural Security Sharon E. Burke testified July 21, 2009 at the Senate hearing, "Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats and Diplomatic Opportunities." The hearing was called by Senator John Kerry, D-MA, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The partial video can be viewed here.
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The full audio of the panel "Natural Security" from the June 11, 2009, conference is available here.
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CNAS Chairman of the Board The Honorable Dr. Richard Danzig delivered the welcoming remarks at the CNAS third annual conference "Striking a Balance: A New American Security," along with CNAS Board Member Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns.
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The full video of the panel "Natural Security" from the June 11, 2009, conference is available here.
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Dr. Jay Gulledge is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Center for a New American Security and is the Senior Scientist and Program Manager for Science and Impacts at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
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