[ Excerpts from this 210 page transcript follow ]
MIKE BREEN, Vice President of the Truman National Security Project. I am also proud to be one of the leaders of Operation Free, a fiercely nonpartisan coalition of over 1,000 patriotic veterans across the country, who stand together in the common belief that our dependence on oil as a single source of fuel poses a clear national security threat to the United States.
To be clear, oil is an immensely important substance to our economy and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Its value goes far beyond its utility as a liquid fuel. Petroleum is a key input in advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, and a host of other applications. Unfortunately, however, a near total dependence on oil as a fuel has eclipsed petroleum’s other contributions.
Our dependence on oil as a single source of transportation fuel poses a clear national security threat to the nation.
Our modem military cannot operate without access to vast quantities of oil.
This lack of alternatives means that oil has ceased to be a mere commodity. Oil is a vital strategic commodity, a substance without which our national security and prosperity cannot be sustained.
Until and unless we develop alternatives, the United States has no choice but to do whatever it takes in order to obtain a sufficient supply of oil.
We share that sad and dangerous predicament with virtually every other nation on earth.
Oil is a fungible, globally traded commodity with prices set on a world market. In other words, global supply and global demand set the market and drive the price, not American supply and American demand alone. This has crucial implications for policy. Since any potential increase in U.S. supply must be considered in light of global demand.
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