Description
First page of a speech given by Senator Richard Lugar, entitled "U.S. Energy Security - A New Realism," at the Brookings Institution's Leadership Forum series on March 13, 2006. In the speech, he described the “economic and political disasters with an almost existential impact” that will result if the U.S. does not formulate a radically new energy policy. John Shaw describes how, at the Summit on Energy Security conference at Purdue University, Lugar encapsulated his ideas as the Lugar Energy Security Initiative: U.S. dependence on foreign oil makes the country vulnerable, and national security is dependent on finding alternative, renewable energy sources.