A New Military Energy Imperative

Michael Wu wrote for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on the threats to U.S. electricity access and how this affects national security:

"Recent reports from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have alerted Americans to efforts by the Russian government to target critical American infrastructure networks, particularly within the energy sector. DHS and FBI reports detail the activities of several persistent and advanced Russian hacking units, which burrowed into utility company networks and, in at least one instance, gained access to a power plant’s critical controls.

This revelation is concerning on its own, but in the broader context of existing threats to our electricity access, it signals the need to reconsider our approach to critical infrastructure and U.S. national security. The security and resilience of our electric grid are of particular concern to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), which is the largest institutional consumer of energy in the world. DoD relies on energy for every aspect of its mission, from powering ships and aircraft and steering the satellites that make up the Global Positioning System to sustaining forward operating bases and combat outposts in contested battlefields."