About Powering America’s Economy

Powering America’s Economy: Energy Innovation at the Crossroads of National Security Challenges is the CNA’s Military Advisory Board’s (MAB) third report to consider aspects of the interconnected issues of national security, energy security, and climate change.

In its first report National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, the board identified climate change as a “threat multiplier” to existing security risks in some of the most volatile regions in the world, and discussed how “climate change, national security, and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges.” The MAB’s second report Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security, identified America’s energy policies and practices as serious and urgent threats to national security—militarily, diplomatically, and economically

In this report the CNA Military Advisory Board considers the challenges and opportunities that America faces in order to transition to clean – i.e. low carbon – energy technology as the United States and the world emerge from economic recession.

Specifically, the report examines how America’s national power could face significant future challenges due to the vulnerabilities of the nation’s current energy posture; looks at the opportunities presented to the United States, relative to collaborators and competitors, by moving toward a clean energy economy; and examines how the Department of Defense could play a key role by altering its research and development enterprise to accelerate the development of innovative clean energy technologies.

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