Homeland Security Should Start with Energy Security

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Unconventional Threats will meet today to hear testimony on the Department of Defense’s alternative energy and energy efficiency programs.

Current energy policy is making the United States increasingly vulnerable. At an event hosted by the Center for American Progress in July to release a new report by the National Security Task Force on Energy, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared that “We are addicted to oil, and the oil is coming from the most dangerous places in the world.”

The report, “Energy Security in the 21^st Century: A New National Strategy,” identifies the key threats to national security as America’s dependence on foreign oil, failure to address the proliferation threats posed by nuclear energy technologies, failure to protect and modernize the global energy infrastructure, failure to combat climate change, and failure to foster a cooperative energy security relationship between and among allies and potential partners.

The report details a strategy that breaks with the White House’s current approach to energy security and offers concrete steps to:

• Reduce dependence on foreign oil and natural gas.
• Confront the threat posed by climate change.
• Increase the viability of nuclear energy by eliminating key proliferation threats posed by nuclear energy technologies.
• Protect and modernize the global energy infrastructure and distribution channels.
• Build a cooperative energy security environment with traditional allies and potential partners.

The Center for American Progress has done extensive research in these policy areas. Many of our proposals are now under consideration in Congress. As the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Unconventional Threats discusses alternative energy, we urge them to consider the steps outlined in Energy Security in the 21^st Century.

Read the full report:

• Energy Security in the 21st Century: A New National Strategy