Saporta Report: Reducing U.S. dependency on foreign oil is vital to our national security
By Truman Project Staff | 9.24.12
As we move into the final weeks of the presidential campaign, $1.84 is a figure we’ll likely hear during the debates. This was the price per gallon of gas just days after President Barack Obama’s inauguration. This number has doubled in just under four years with no real expectation for a significant reduction in the price of oil.
Renewable energy sources provide for roughly 10 percent of American consumption, with 35 percent being provided by oil and the remainder coming from natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. Presently, the Department of Defense uses 22 gallons of petroleum daily per soldier in combat. It costs the Department of Defense — and ultimately taxpayers — $1.4 billion annually for each $10 increase in the cost of a barrel of oil, notes Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate.
Not only must our military leaders be concerned with the physical protection of the infrastructure of our energy supply, this new Internet age requires an agile, tactical approach to cyber warfare as it relates to the oil supply chain.
