Energy is the lifeblood of the American economy. Cut off the flow of energy and the economy will die. For this reason, energy independence is a matter of national security.

National Security

Why is energy a national security issue?
“Our entire economy depends on the expectation that energy will be plentiful, available, and affordable. Nations like Venezuela and Iran can use oil and gas as political and economic weapons by manipulating the marketplace. Half of our trade deficit goes toward buying oil from abroad, and some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorists.”
—General James Jones is the current United States National Security Advisor and a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general. From July 1999 to January 2003, General Jones was the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. After relinquishing command as Commandant, he assumed the positions of Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of the United States European Command (USEUCOM). General Jones was appointed National Security Advisor to the President on January 20, 2009.

The United States consumes 20 million barrels of oil every day

The U.S. economy has become dangerously dependent on foreign oil.

American Energy Independence will be achieved when all cars, trucks and buses on U.S. highways — boats, ships and barges on U.S. waterways — aircraft flying U.S. airways — trains on U.S. railways — and off-road recreational, construction and farm vehicles, are powered by transportation fuels made in the USA from U.S. resources.

OPEC controls the global oil market

The Middle East is home to the largest percentage of world oil reserves. Arab Kings and Muslim dictators control the oil in that region of the world, and all Middle East oil producing countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Oil is a global commodity—it doesn't matter where the oil comes from—OPEC sets the global price of oil.

In the year 2007, over 700 billion dollars flowed into OPEC nations from oil hungry countries around the world.

From September 2007 through October 2008 the world economy was rocked by the unprecedented transfer of one trillion dollars from European, Asian and American economies into Middle East national treasuries in exchange for oil.

Even with reduced, yet still high oil prices, OPEC countries received $600 billion from oil exports in 2009 and are expected to take in more than $800 billion in 2010.

The world's dependence on petroleum has increased significantly in the past decade and military tension in the Middle East has escalated into war. This is not saying that the war in Iraq was only about oil, but it would be naive to think that the United States military would be in the Middle East if there were no oil.

Without oil at the center of the conflict there would be no U.S. Military operations in the Middle East—and there would be no oil wealth to finance terrorist ambitions.

The war against terrorism cannot be won without cutting off the flow of oil money into the Middle East.

Developing alternative transportation fuels, using domestic sources of energy, is the fastest way to reduce the flow of oil money into the Middle East.

American drivers burn about nine million barrels of oil per day for personal transportation in the form of gasoline (378 million gallons every day) to power their cars and trucks. Another five million barrels of oil is consumed in the USA every day by commercial trucks, trains, buses, airplanes, ships, boats, forklifts, and a multitude of various construction and farm equipment.

“The most direct way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is to simply use less of it, starting with the cars and trucks we drive. Nearly 70 percent of our oil use is for transportation, and more than 65 percent of that amount is for personal vehicles.. energy independence means changing how we power our cars and trucks from foreign oil to new American-made fuels and batteries.”
— Nobel physicist Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy

Is there anyone who still cannot see the connection between the flow of oil money into the Middle East and the flow of terrorism out of the Middle East?

“The rise of terrorism by militant Islam against the United States and the West coincided with the rise in oil prices of 1979-80 and the subsequent transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars from the West to Muslim countries.”
— Max Singer, senior fellow, The Hudson Institute.

“Starting in the late 1980s—after the dual shocks of the Iranian revolution and the Soviet war in Afghanistan—Saudi Arabia's quasi-official charities became the primary source of funds for the fast-growing jihad movement. In some 20 countries, the money was used to run paramilitary training camps, purchase weapons, and recruit new members.
The charities were part of an extraordinary $70 billion Saudi campaign to spread their fundamentalist Wahhabi sect worldwide. The money helped lay the foundation for hundreds of radical mosques, schools, and Islamic centers that have acted as support networks for the jihad movement..”
—The Saudi Connection By David E. Kaplan, U.S.News & World Report

“The meteoric rise of oil revenues in the 20th century meant a new era for Islam; oil revenues were the catalyst that converted passive resentment into Islamic Terrorism” —Frank H. Denton, PhD, U.S. Foreign Service (Ret.)

“Exactly how much the Saudis have spent to spread Wahhabism is unclear.” David D. Aufhauser, a former Treasury Department general counsel, told a Senate committee that estimates went north of $75 billion. “The total spent annually is between $2 billion and $2.5 billion,” he said.

Wahhabism is a fundamentalist Islamic movement that has its roots in the extreme Islamic Takfiri ideology, which is a religious belief that encourages its followers to use violence as a means to achieve their goals.

Middle East oil wealth supports and empowers militant Islam.

The global economy trades its wealth for Middle East oil enriching the sponsors of terrorism.

Islamic terrorism feeds off of the world's dependence on oil.

Ronald Reagan has been credited for defeating Communism without firing a shot; by economically isolating and suffocating the Soviet Union, while at the same time enticing the Soviet leaders and people toward freedom. In a similar way, initiating action toward achieving global independence from petroleum (as a source of energy) will lead to the defeat of oil financed terrorism.

Try to imagine what would have happened if Europe and America had been paying the Soviet Union one Trillion U.S. dollars every year, during the cold war.

Next time you buy gasoline or diesel, ask yourself the following questions:

Terrorism is one of the hidden costs of imported oil.

The U.S. government spends billions of dollars paying for the hidden costs of America's oil dependence.

Billions of dollars have been spent every year by the U.S. military to protect the flow of Middle East oil into the global market and to keep the price low. That is no longer working. Something has gone terribly wrong.

In addition to the monetary cost of the U.S. Military operations in the Middle East, there is the human cost. How many American soldiers will die before the American people decide that the price of oil is too high? Our nation's wealth, along with the blood of American soldiers, is being drained onto the sands of the Middle East to keep oil flowing.

Over 4,000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in Iraq and more then 30,000 wounded since the war began on March 20, 2003

“...in my opinion, there never was a good War, or a bad Peace. What vast additions to the Conveniences and Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired, if the Money spent in Wars had been employed in Works of public utility!” — Benjamin Franklin, 1783 - quoted from a letter to Joseph Banks. Invest in Energy Independence Cost of the Iraq War (JavaScript Error) To see more details, click here

American Energy Independence will create hundreds of billions of dollars in new wealth resulting in new jobs and economic stimulus not seen since the World War II civilian work force mobilized behind the war effort.

Energy Security vs. Energy Independence

It is common knowledge that during World War II, Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. But most American's who are unfamiliar with early 20th century history do not know that before (and for a time during) World War I (WWI), Winston Churchill served as the First Lord of the Admiralty for the British Navy. It was in his role as pre-WWI First Lord of the Admiralty, that Churchill converted the British Navy from coal-power to fuel oil, to make the fleet faster than the German Navy. By doing so Churchill recognized that a new vulnerability had been created: coal was a domestic source of fuel but oil had to be imported. Relying on oil meant that the British Navy would, for the first time, be dependent on foreign sources of fuel.

It was as First Lord of the Admiralty, leading up to WWI, and in the context of the British Navy’s new dependence upon imported fuel oil, that Winston Churchill said: “Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety and variety alone.” (Churchill meant variety of oil suppliers.)

The phrase Energy Security, which is sometimes used today as a substitute slogan for Energy Independence, originates from Winston Churchill's pre-WWI comment.

The phrase Energy Independence was coined in 1974 after the Arab oil embargo. At that time, and for most people still today, it was believed that Energy Independence would come from a variety of alternative energy resources, with emphasis on developing the USA's largely untapped domestic resources: coal, oil shale, nuclear and renewable energy, in addition to increased oil exploration and production in Alaska.

The striking difference between Churchill's concept of Energy Security and the concept of Energy Independence today is that Churchill's Energy Security required a variety of petroleum suppliers, where Energy Independence requires a variety of energy resources — domestic alternative resources, in addition to domestic petroleum resources.

The concept of American Energy Independence does not imply protectionism or economic isolation. Energy Independence means energy self-sufficiency achieved by developing America's own alternative energy resources, and by employing advanced technology designed to convert alternative energy resources into transportation fuels that can replace petroleum dependent gasoline... gasoline dependent automobiles are the choke point of America's oil dependence.

In contrast, shortages of diesel and Jet fuel are due to refinery limitations, not petroleum supply. This is because the older USA refineries were designed to produce gasoline as the primary refined product from a barrel of oil, with diesel and jet fuel produced as a limited percent of the barrel of oil. Any increase in diesel and jet fuel production, without an increase in demand for gasoline, creates a surplus of gasoline. Therefore, older oil refineries are the “choke point” of America's diesel and jet fuel supply problems. A solution is known: Modern refineries are capable of shifting production away from gasoline to increase the output of diesel and jet fuel (and products for the chemical industry) from a barrel of oil. New modern refineries have not been built in the USA because..?

The USA has an abundance of domestic alternative energy resources that could be developed to supply all of America’s energy needs.

Energy Security through Energy Independence

During the 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush shocked Conservatives when he said “America is addicted to oil” — a phrase that might have been expected of a Democrat, but when a Republican president who is also a Texas oil man spoke those words on national television from the U.S. Capital, the world knew that America's love affair with oil was over. Then, in the summer of 2008, with oil prices breaking $120 per barrel and rising, famous Texas oil man and billionaire, T. Boone Pickens launched a private $50 million advertising campaign to convince U.S. consumers to break away from America's dangerous dependence on imported oil.

Today, Conservatives are fully on board—alternative energy is Patriotic—Energy Independence is finally a bipartisan issue (although how to achieve it remains a contentious partisan debate).

The addiction metaphor dramatically exposes America's unhealthy and dangerous dependence on imported oil. The oil itself is not the addiction; the addiction metaphor applies to the behavior of the American people who willingly accept dependence on foreign countries to supply the U.S. with energy—the lifeblood of the economy, and the fuel that gives mobility to the United States military. That collective behavior is self-destructive, similar to what is seen in addicts.

Independence vs. Interdependence

World War II was won by an alliance of nations that shared a mutual interest in defeating a common enemy. Energy independence can also be achieved through an alliance of nations that share mutual interests. Economic and military interdependence between nations can produce a powerful global force for good, but only if the members of the alliance share basic cultural values and a commitment to protect the freedoms of their people. In World War II the Soviet Union was allied with the U.S. and Great Britain. That alliance, though helping to defeat the Nazis, created another nightmare in the form of a threat of global nuclear war that lasted long after the defeat of Hitler's Germany.

There is nothing inherently wrong with “energy interdependence” in regard to importing oil. But we must ask: where is the oil money going? What is the oil money being used for? What are the long-term implications? Clearly, global free trade, as it is called, has shifted economic and military power away from Europe and the USA to nations that only 60 years ago were economically and militarily in the Stone Age.

What if the global free traders are wrong? What if the pacifists are just stupid, again?

American Energy Independence will lead to global energy independence

The United States is a world leader. The nations of the world look to the United States for leadership. American Energy Independence is about world leadership.

A few economists and advocates of global free trade have voiced a narrow view of energy independence, claiming that it will mean a retreat from global economic interdependence, a direction that would disrupt the global free market and lead America toward economic and political isolation. Their view is not true.

The United States does not need zero foreign oil imports to be energy independent. There is no reason to end oil imports from Canada and Mexico. Energy independence is not about protectionism.

Energy independence does not mean closed borders or economic isolation. Energy independence will be achieved by producing abundant and affordable alternative energy through advanced technology that will enable all countries to do the same. American Energy Independence will lead to global energy independence.

Today, the world consumes over 85 million barrels of oil every day (over 30 billion barrels per year). The USA alone consumes over 20 million barrels per day (over 7 billion barrels per year). At $70 per barrel, global petroleum revenue exceeds two trillion dollars per year.

Development of alternative fuels on a scale large enough to free the global economy from dependence on oil, as the world's primary source of energy, will create a seismic shift within the economic foundation of the world.

Seventy percent of the oil consumed in the USA is used for transportation fuel—gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.  

U.S. Electric Utility Companies responded to the threat of the 1973 Arab oil embargo by replacing petroleum fuel oil with USA coal, nuclear energy and natural gas to power their generators.

The USA no longer depends on petroleum to generate electricity for the power grid. The USA is not dependent on foreign sources of energy for electricity generation.

The U.S. Automobile industry must do today what the U.S. Electric Utility industry did over 35 years ago — Kick the oil habit!

American Energy Independence will be achieved when American drivers can fill their cars and trucks with non-petroleum fuels. Today, cars and trucks use gasoline and diesel made from petroleum. Those same cars and trucks can run on USA biofuels, natural gas, synthetic fuels (made from USA coal, oil shale and biomass) and electricity generated by USA nuclear and renewable energy.

ABC News Video Report:
Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil — ABC News' Anchor Charlie Gibson investigates America's addiction to oil and the severity of the security threat in a special edition of 20/20 — A look at how the need to secure foreign oil sources shapes U.S. foreign policy. July 24, 2009

Recommended reading:

The Saudi Connection — How billions in oil money spawned a global terror network. By David E. Kaplan, U.S.News & World Report

Nexus—Oil and Al Qaeda By Frank H. Denton, PhD, U.S. Foreign Service (Retired)
“The meteoric rise of oil revenues in the 20th century meant a new era for Islam; oil revenues were the catalyst that converted passive resentment into Islamic Terrorism..” Read more

Our Energy Challenge By Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard Smalley
“Energy is the single most important problem facing humanity today — not just the U.S., but also worldwide...” Read more

Online Documentary:
Saudi Time Bomb — A PBS investigation
“For more than two centuries, Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant faith. It is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies. Critics say that Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, pointing to extremists such as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Wahhabism's explosive growth began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques from Islamabad to Culver City, California..." Read more