Protecting North America's Energy Infrastructure Against Terrorism

Global militant Jihadist terrorism has explicitly and directly threatened the international energy industry, and in particular its oil, natural gas, and pipeline sectors. An audio recording, ostensibly from Osama bin Laden in December 2004, declared that "oil prices should be at least $ 100 a barrel,'' and called upon Jihadist militants to attack oil facilities throughout the Gulf region to prevent the West from getting "cheap'' Arab oil.(1) This was the first time that al-Qaeda had openly proclaimed a strategy of harming Western economies by disrupting oil supplies and causing prices to soar. Oil is deemed by militant Jihadists to be the "artery of life to the crusader's nation,'' their term for the United States. According to bin Laden, the strategy being pursued by al-Qaeda aims expressly at "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.''(2) Four core issues relating to the protection of North America's energy infrastructure against terrorist threats are: (a) the evolving militant Jihadist terrorist threat in the aftermath of the Iraq conflict; (b) terrorist tactics and targeting of the energy sector and its infrastructure; (c) North American energy integration and its vulnerabilities, criticality, and interdependence with other economic and social sectors; and (d) government responses and policy options for critical energy infrastructure protection, public safety, and national resilience. References made herein to ethno-cultural or religious communities or institutions are not meant to imply that all members of that group are associated with terrorism. Terrorists comprise a small cadre of dedicated, extremist, and highly militant individuals. This study relates to these elements, and their actions.