Current Strategy Forum: Energy and U.S. National Security, Vulnerability and Opportunity

The viability of our economy relies heavily on the continuing supply of energy resources. Increasingly, the United States’ national security initiatives have been concerned with challenges and trends associated with the need for continued access to natural resources. In the naval realm, continuing debates over the legitimacy of overlapping sovereign claims to undersea resources remain a potential source of conflict.

One prominent theme of the Maritime Strategy is that the expansion of the global economic system currently underway will create increasing competition for these energy resources and may encourage nations to exert wider claims of sovereignty over greater expanses of ocean, waterways, and natural resources, potentially causing stress to the international system. Our nation’s challenge will be to support a secure global maritime system that facilitates the unhindered flow of these vital energy commodities as well as ensuring access to the global commons for other economic components such as exploration and undersea infrastructure while seeking new solutions that reduce dependency on these limited resources.

2011's Current Strategy Forum explored:

• The critical role of energy in international security
• The current and future impact of increasing global demands on natural resources, and
• The related vulnerabilities and opportunities for the nation and the maritime services in a more energy constrained environment.