12-10-06

US dependence on imported energy has undermined the nation's ability to pursue it s foreign policy goals, a new report says.
"The lack of sustained attention to energy issues is undercutting US foreign policy and US national security," according to the new report from the Council on Foreign Relations, entitled "National Security Consequences of US Oil Dependency."

Soaring global oil prices and US continued dependence on huge foreign oil imports has given oil producing nations like Russia, Iran and Venezuela the financial clout and the confidence to defy US wishes on a wide range of issues, the report said.
"Because of their oil wealth, these and other producer countries are free to ignore US policies and to pursue interests inimical to our national security," the report said.

"The challenge over the next several decades is to manage the consequences of unavoidable dependence on oil and gas that is traded in world markets and to begin the transition to an economy that relies less on petroleum," said former US Defence Secretary and Energy Secretary James R. Schlesinger, who headed the CFR task force that produced the report.
"The longer the delay, the greater will be the subsequent trauma," the report said.

The United States has 4.6 % of the world's population using 25 % of the world's oil, CFR said.
"Voices that espouse 'energy independence' are doing the nation a disservice by focusing on a goal that is unachievable over the foreseeable future and that encourages the adoption of inefficient and counterproductive policies," the report said. "Leaders of both parties, especially when seeking public office, seem unable to resist announcing unrealistic goals that are transparent efforts to gain popularity rather than inform the public of the challenges the United States must overcome," it said.