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The Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA today announced new personnel additions who bring extensive experience from government and the private sector to the...
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The US Department of Defense has announced a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership with MP Materials, representing one of the most consequential federal efforts to build a secure, end-to-end domestic...
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Artificial intelligence is transforming our world—and the energy sector. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a comprehensive report examining both AI’s projected energy demands and...
Past Event
April 16, 2013
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University for a presentation by SIPA alum Sharon Burke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy. Last year, the Department of Defense spent $16.4B on petroleum, consumed 4.3B gallons of fuel, and was the world’s single largest consumer of energy. Assistant Secretary Burke will discuss the DoD’s current energy landscape and its energy future, focusing on how the Defense Department views energy security and national security issues. The presentation will be followed by Q&A moderated by Center Director Jason Bordoff. Registration is required.
Biography:
Sharon E. Burke was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs on June 25, 2010.
As the Assistant Secretary, Ms. Burke is the principal advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on operational energy security and reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. She is the inaugural Assistant Secretary for the office, which was created to strengthen the energy security of U.S. military operations. The mission of the office is to help the military services and combatant commands improve military capabilities, cut costs, and lower operational and strategic risk through better energy accounting, planning, management, and innovation. Operational energy, or the energy required to train, move, and sustain forces, weapons, and equipment for military operations, accounted for 75 percent of all energy used by the Department of Defense in 2012.
Prior to her appointment at the Department of Defense, Ms. Burke was a Vice President and Senior Fellow at the non-partisan and independent Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a defense policy think tank. At CNAS, Ms. Burke directed research on energy security and initiated the Natural Security Program, which looked at the national security implications of global natural resources challenges.
Ms. Burke has extensive previous U.S. government service. She served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State, a Country Director in the Department of Defense’s Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, and a speechwriter to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Secretary of Defense William Cohen. She started her career in the Energy and Materials program of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, contributing to a multi-year study of energy in developing countries.
First joining the Department of Defense as a Presidential Management Fellow, Ms. Burke has received medals for Exceptional Public Service from the Department of Defense and the Superior Honor Award from the Department of State. She has served on the Leadership Team of the American Assembly’s Next Generation Project, as the Director of the National Security Project at Third Way, as the Middle East Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, and is the author of numerous reports, including A Strategy for American Power: Energy, Climate, and National Security.
Ms. Burke graduated from Williams College and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she focused on international energy policy and earned a Certificate of Middle Eastern Studies. At Columbia, she also was
As the Israel-Iran conflict continues to unfold, it remains unclear whether a ceasefire will hold or fighting will resume. This uncertainty carries significant implications for energy markets in the Middle East and around the world.
On the night of June 12, the Israeli military conducted widespread strikes on sites in Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear program and its senior military leadership.
This year, the Third Annual Energy Opportunity Lab (EOL) Forum will take place July 7th and 8th in Washington, DC, offering a chance for the Washington policymaking community...
On May 23, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders that aim to reform the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, streamline National Laboratory processes for reactor testing, advance...
The US Department of Defense has announced a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership with MP Materials, representing one of the most consequential federal efforts to build a secure, end-to-end domestic...
This report explores how residents of North Lawndale, a predominantly Black and historically under-resourced neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, experience the compounded effects of heat waves and power outages.
The report outlines five foundational choices if a stockpiling strategy is adopted, as bipartisan support suggests is possible.
