Retired military officers are urging the U.S. to get serious about changing the country’s approach to energy use.

In a new report from Alexandria, Va.-based Center for Naval Analyses, a bevy of high-ranking former Army and Navy officials stress that the country’s reliance on oil poses a threat to national security and undermines the country’s ability to wage war. That’s because the hegemony of oil empowers plenty of dodgy nations, and because it imposes huge (and expensive) logistics strains on the U.S. military, as made clear in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The report calls for the Pentagon to lead a shift away from oil and toward renewable sources of energy—not so much to save the planet as to make it easier to defend.

What’s really interesting about the report is that it highlights how important the Pentagon could be in blazing a new energy trail. The U.S. Department of Defense is the world’s single-largest energy consumer, so any shift in energy use by the Pentagon automatically has massive repercussions. That’s especially true when it comes to new technologies:

Aided by "smart drugs," enhanced with prosthetics, and protected by a lightweight suit of armor, this soldier of the future possesses near super-human capabilities and weapons that would make even Iron Man jealous. He's suited up in an "exoskeleton" - essentially a Storm Trooper-esque external shell - that allows him to carry heavy loads. Electronics integrated in his outfit allow for simultaneous language translation, automatic identification of potential foes, and video-game-like targeting.

It's all part of the Army's starry-eyed vision of grunts 20 years from now, and it's just one aspect of the Pentagon's ambitious thinking about technologies that will transform the way the military fights. There are also plans for advanced robotic aircraft; missiles that travel seven times the speed of sound; and ship- and aircraft-based laser weapons that could blast missiles out of the sky.

These aren't fantasy. Many of these technologies are plausible, or in development. Whether the military can afford them is an entirely different question.
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The US has a total dominace in all military ascpets, and have had fore quite some time. Dont you guys have more pressing problems than futher develop the means to go to war? You should know that starting wars is a drag on karma.

The vast majority of the supposed advanced technology has nothing to do with improving fighting ability or improving the lives of the troops. They are designed to extract the most money from the public. It is a business model that the US has perfected. That grunts are used ( and die) in the use of this crap is just a cost of doing business.

As for total dominance? How's that working for you? There seems to be a model of diminishing returns working here. The more the US dominates ( ie: murders indiscriminately) the fewer people are intimidated. Hmmmm, not a particularly good R.O.(fiat)E.

Only thing about these plans that really gives me the creeps is the opening line in the piece, "aided by smart drugs." Mmkay.. does that mean the US military is actually considering enhancing soldiers' performance with drugs??? Now that is a very scary and dangerous road to go down.

Old news. This MSNBC article is from 2003: link

Military use of amphetamines dates back at least to WWII.

The US has a total dominace in all military ascpets, and have had fore quite some time. Dont you guys have more pressing problems than futher develop the means to go to war? You should know that starting wars is a drag on karma.