Energy will play an increasingly important role in international security and vice versa. The Center on Global Energy Policy launched the International Security Initiative to conduct research and hold events in some of the most important energy-related policy issues of our time, including energy security, terrorism, cybersecurity, sanctions, and the security implications of energy poverty. The Initiative explores issues at the intersection of energy markets, policy and geopolitics to inform policy debates, foster understanding of global security and energy dynamics, and produce independent and data-driven research.

Led by Richard Nephew, CGEP senior research scholar and former Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the U.S. Department of State and John MacWilliams, CGEP fellow and former Associate Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Jonathan Elkind, CGEP senior research scholar and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Initiative produces in-depth research papers, policy briefs and host roundtable discussions and off-the-record conversations with senior energy policy officials and industry leaders. CGEP non-resident fellows Michael P. Dempsey, former acting Director of National Intelligence and career intelligence officer, William Rich, former U.S. Financial Attaché to the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, and Ariane Tabatabai, associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, also support the work of the initiative.