Provided by the Center for a New American Security
Although all U.S. presidents since Richard Nixon have expressed the strategic goal of weaning the nation off imported oil and all since President George H.W. Bush have pledged to combat global warming, U.S. oil import dependence and greenhouse gas emissions have risen steadily over the last thirty years. With one exception, the nation has never really had a national strategy to accomplish energy security goals.
The exception was the high-level 2001 National Energy Policy Development Group chaired by Vice President Richard Cheney, which included key cabinet officials and consultations with the private sector and some NGOs.
That strategy exercise was conducted in secrecy, however, and remains the subject of litigation, largely because of its lack of transparency and flawed methodology. Furthermore, the May 2001 National Energy Policy that resulted basically had at its heart a status-quo-plus strategic goal: the United States should basically remain dependent on fossil fuels, and oil in particular. In the years since, U.S. oil import dependence has grown, supplier nations – including many hostile to the United States – have increased their economic clout and geostrategic leverage, the vulnerability of the energy supply chain has worsened, the U.S. and global economy have suffered great damage from volatile oil prices, and greenhouse gas emissions have increased, with little progress in international negotiations. Either the goal of the Bush-Cheney strategy was dead wrong, or the strategy was not executed – or most likely, both.
President-Elect Obama has offered an ambitious goal for improving the nation’s energy security; for him to guide the nation toward that goal and use the federal government as an engine of change, he will need a national strategy. Strategic planning traditionally identifies ends, ways, and means: if energy security (by ending dependence on oil and stemming climate change) is the “end,” for example, innovation, partnerships, and international cooperation are some of the ways to reach that end. The means will range from a cap and trade system for controlling carbon dioxide emissions, to government investment in and incentives to the private sector for the development of clean coal and alternative energy, to new energy use standards for appliances. A strategy, when executed well, also plays a crucial role in matching resources to strategic goals in a systematic way. Furthermore, a strategy not only can coordinate national action, it can also ensure consistency of policy. Consistency over time in the ends, ways, and means of the strategy will be important to convincing agencies and external actors to invest in executing it.
The President-Elect has already laid out the main elements of what might be called a “directional” strategy, or what one CNAS workshop participant described as a “go west” strategy. We recommend that the new administration amplify this directional strategy and release it within the first 100 days in office in order to focus all agencies in the federal government on common goals – and to let the American public and key external actors know where the administration will be driving the nation. On the campaign trail, President Elect Obama highlighted the following key elements, which could be the guideposts for a national strategy:
We recommend that the list include geostrategic concerns, such as how to cooperate with other major oil consuming nations, including China and the members of the EU. Lower oil prices may also provide an opening to change U.S. strategic footing with hostile producer nations, such as Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. Also, how to unite the world in curbing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change requires a strategy of its own. The directional strategy should be followed a year or two later by a more comprehensive strategy that tells the nation not only to go west, but how to get there and what to build upon arrival. External support and input to the more detailed and far-reaching strategy – not only from industrial and commercial interests but also Congress, states, and nongovernmental actors – will be essential to its success. It will take time to properly cultivate stakeholders in the strategy.
The new administration may wish to consider establishing either an annual update of the National Energy Security Strategy, or a Quadrennial Energy Security Review to reaffirm, measure success, and update the strategy. 
In the meantime, however, the directional strategy should include short-term outcomes: demonstrating early success, such as energy efficiency gains, improved cooperation with other oil consuming nations, and a formula for negotiating success on climate change, will be important. The directional and longer-range energy security strategies should be developed in the White House, as an expression of the President’s vision. That will require, however, the creation of an office capable of developing such a strategy and overseeing its implementation, which is covered in the next section.