Resources

On August 4, 2008, Anne Korin spoke for C-SPAN on behalf of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS). This gripping speech on foreign oil dependence and energy security should not be missed.

The international energy market of the twenty-first century is witnessing an unprecedented period of turmoil and instability, an indication of an indisputable global power shift that holds serious, long-term implications for U.S. national security interests throughout the world.

Q. What do the following recent events have in common?

We must become independent — not just of imported oil, but of oil itself.

By R. James Woolsey & Anne Korin

A determined pack has begun to race its engines and to try to shoulder us off the road toward energy independence. It’s time for those determined to stay on the track to drive aggressively.

The United States is the largest oil importer in the world, bringing in 13.5 million barrels per day (mbd), which accounts for 63.5 percent of total U.S. daily consumption (20.6 mbd). Oil from the Middle East (specifically, the Persian Gulf) accounts for 17 percent of U.S. oil imports, and this dependence is growing.

Much has been reported about the complex system of terrorist financing and the money trail facilitating the September 11 terror attacks. Individuals and charities from the Persian Gulf--mainly from Saudi Arabia--appear to be the most important source of funding for terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda.

Author says US can solve this problem by breaking free of oil

The price of oil is now very high, and it became very high very rapidly. Some blame "speculators," without realizing how small is the amount of money that speculators take -- see Philip K. Verleger -- while almost all of the rise in price goes to the oil-producing states. It would hardly be surprising, either, to discover that the Saudis and other Arabs were in fact behind some of these speculators, and were even employing them. After all, the speculators not only run the price up, but become the object of criticism that deflects from fury at this handful of plutocratic states.

Prior to the 2006 State of the Union address, the Center for Security Policy ("CSP") published the article below detailing the United States dependence on foreign oil and the implications of such a dependence. Noting that [the U.S.] is "funding both sides of the War for the Free World", the CSP suggests that this costly and dangerous practice must be stopped.