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

July 4, 2006

Center for American Progress

Report of the National Security Task Force on Energy

President Bush has declared that America is addicted to oil and dangerously dependent on unstable or hostile states for its energy supply. But while there is a consensus across the political spectrum that the current energy strategy is failing, Democrats and Republicans fundamentally disagree about what should be done to address the threats posed by America’s dependence on foreign oil and the potentially catastrophic environmental damage caused by carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels.

The Bush administration has demonstrated a willingness to acknowledge the existence of such energy security challenges, but it has failed to implement a plan to meet them.

In this report, leading energy and national security experts present a new, comprehensive energy security strategy that will put the United States on a path toward energy independence while enhancing our national, economic, and environmental security. This strategy breaks with the Bush administration’s approach by offering 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.

Task Force Members

Madeleine K. Albright, Samuel R. Berger, Rand Beers, Carol Browner, William Danvers, Tom Daschle, John Deutch, Thomas J. Downey, Michèle A. Flournoy, Leon Fuerth, Suzanne George, Denis McDonough, James C. O’Brien, Peter Ogden, John Podesta, Susan E. Rice, Wendy R. Sherman, Gayle Smith, Tara Sonenshine, Jim Steinberg, Timothy E. Wirth

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

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