The oil shock of 1973 came and went. So did the panic after the Iranian revolution six years later, when oil prices shot to record highs. Gone, too, is the brief flurry of fear that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

After each, voices in Washington that cried out for big changes in U.S. energy policy were slowly drowned out. James Schlesinger, the first U.S. energy secretary, has said for decades that when it comes to energy policy, the U.S. toggles between complacency and panic.


Will it be different this time around?

With oil soaring above $130 a barrel and fears spreading of a long-term supply crunch, a new cadre of energy Cassandras in Washington argues that America faces deep and potentially wrenching challenges that no amount of gas-tax holidays or rhetorical attacks on speculators and big oil producers will help fix.

From the Pentagon to Capitol Hill, some often lonely voices are warning of big shocks to come if the U.S. doesn't wake up. Not all of them point to the same core problem, however. Nor do the proposed solutions dovetail neatly. But they all agree that the main challenge is to overcome the complacency without triggering the panic.

Here is a look at four of these voices...