Energy Aug. 29, 2025

"Unleashing American Energy" - Positioning American Energy for the Next Century

What does the term “energy” mean? Energy is a physical and strategic asset, essential to powering homes, industries, and national defense, while shaping global economic and geopolitical challenges. Derived from the Greek for “acting force,” energy refers to the capacity to do work, produce heat, or emit light, and exists in mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, and radiant forms, which are governed by the law of conservation. In the United States, energy applications span transportation, manufacturing, and defense, supported by a vast infrastructure for generation, transmission, distribution, and storage. It is classified into primary sources (directly usable, like crude oil ) and secondary sources (processed, like hydrogen), while further divided into non-renewable (e.g., fossil fuels), renewable (e.g., wind), and nuclear resources, each with distinct implications for energy security and economic stability.

Energy May 31, 2024

Powering America’s Future: Policy, Investment, And Collaboration for A Sustainable Energy Sector

As the United States seeks to transition to carbon-free energy sources to mitigate the impacts of climate change, which the 2022 U.S. National Security Strategy describes as an existential threat, it faces many opportunities and challenges. In an era of substantially growing energy needs, the United States is a leader in the development of a range of carbon-free energy technologies that can play a central role in ensuring that U.S. industry, the U.S. military, and the American people have reliable access to the energy sources they need for security and prosperity. However, successfully securing investment in costly cutting-edge technologies and obtaining permission to deploy them is challenging in a regulatory environment designed for fossil-fuel sources and slow to adapt to carbon-free energy providers.

Energy: May 30, 2023

Maximizing the First 5% of GDP: An Optimistic Assessment of the United States Energy Sector and Policy Recommendations for the Future

Currently, there is considerable pessimism in the United States. Inflation, political polarization, debt brinksmanship, and protracted conflict dominate headlines. However, the mood is noticeably different in the energy sector. Energy is one of America’s greatest strengths, and after decades of languish and underinvestment (in certain parts of the industry), the sector may now be positioned to lead a new era of American leadership and growth. For the first time in decades, there is significant investment from the federal government, and the private sector and academia are eager to accept the challenges the administration has articulated.

Energy: May 30, 2022

Energy Industry Study Report

This paper documents a top-level exploration of the global energy industry and its ramifications for the United States’ enduring interests and national security. Prior scholars at National Defense University conducted similar research and documented their results within publicly available reports. Current students examined reports from 2009 and 2018 to find gaps in the research and analyze trends within the energy industry. Previous reports conducted a point-in-time analysis of the energy industry and are therefore ripe for an update.

May 31, 2018

Energy

2018 Antonelli Award Winner: On a Monday morning, just as the country is waking up to a new workweek, a team of terrorists attacks, boards, and explodes an outbound Liquefied Petroleum Gas tanker, sinking it in the Houston Ship Channel and thereby blocking the channel. The Kinder Morgan Pasadena refined products terminal fuel transfer facility located along the channel is shut down, and the connection to the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies the East Coast, is physically destroyed (see Figures 1 and 2). That evening, while many in the country are still processing the morning’s events, cyberterrorist actors attack Houston’s electrical grid, leading to blackouts along the shipping channel and leaving much of the country’s oil, gas, and chemical infrastructure cold and dark. Through these attacks, roughly 30-60 percent of America’s daily refined oil products are cut off, the nation’s largest petrochemical complex is isolated, and America’s most critical energy node is physically and electronically isolated—and will be for weeks. Even as federal and state officials rush to mitigate the attack's impact and to neutralize the threat, they recognize that the country will take years to register the full economic and social impact of the day’s events.

Energy: Dec. 30, 2017

Energy

Recent developments and advancements in the domestic energy sector have greatly enhanced U.S. energy security. Newfound access to vast oil and natural gas reserves made possible by advances in hydraulic fracturing technology, the rapid expansion of power generation from renewable energy sources, and improvements in energy efficiency are providing American’s with unprecedented access to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy. Nevertheless, the lack of a coherent national energy strategy, flawed energy markets, and aging infrastructure pose an acute risk to future U.S. energy security.