Former CIA Chief looks to future

Crude oil and salt have a lot in common, in R. James Woolsey’s mind.

The former CIA director, who has become an authoritative voice on energy security, sees oil headed down the same path as salt, previously the only means of preserving meat.

“Wars were fought and national strategies driven, in part, by salt. Today, we haven’t stopped using salt, but no part of our national behavior is driven by the need for it,” he said in congressional testimony in April.

Woolsey will be in Colorado Springs next week to deliver two talks addressing solutions to America’s energy crisis. He will speak Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Shove Chapel at Colorado College. On Friday, Woolsey will address the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council during a monthly luncheon at 11:30 a.m. at The Broadmoor.

In a telephone interview this week, Woolsey said he is optimistic that a “portfolio” of solutions can decrease America’s dependence on oil as a fuel source.

“Replacing oil is important for both national security and global warming — at least breaking its monopoly over transportation fuel, 96 percent of which is run by petroleum products,” he said.

A lawyer by profession, Woolsey is one of 300 vice presidents at Booz Allen Hamilton. He works on security issues in the consulting firm’s energy practice in McLean, Va. He has served in the government five different times, including leading the CIA under President Clinton.

Woolsey has a Colorado connection — his three sons graduated from Colorado College, and his wife, Suzanne Haley Woolsey, is a trustee.

Woolsey looks toward a combination of electricity and alternative liquid fuels, such as ethanol, as a key to replacing oil. Plug-in hybrid vehicles, which run partly on electricity and partly on liquid fuels, have great potential, he said, particularly hybrid models General Motors and Toyota are developing.

“Today’s hybrids get around 50 mpg. If you add enough battery capacity to drive 25 miles on overnight electricity, you’re up to 100 gallons or more per mile. Now, if that car is a flex-fuel vehicle and you can use E85, you’re getting 500 miles per gallon of gasoline, because what you're driving on is largely electricity,” he said.

GM’s plans to offer conversion kits for existing hybrids to be plug-ins, will mean “you’ll start to see more cars moving faster than people think toward being powered by electricity.”

But alternative fuel doesn’t need to translate into sacrifice, Woolsey said, adding that he drove an all-electric Tesla Roadster that accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds, goes 245 miles on an overnight charge and costs less than 2 cents a mile to operate.

“What’s changing is the fuel. You don’t have to tell the American people to get away from performance or big vehicles or take public transit or only ride bicycles,” he said. “Toyota and GM seem to think they can build cars with fine acceleration, speed and size that are powered by something other than petroleum. If you don’t hear the car go ‘vroom,’ deal with that with a CD player and speakers.”

Woolsey said it’s time for Americans to get serious about reducing use of fossil fuels and finding alternative and renewable energy.

“Over two-thirds of the world’s proven reserves of conventional oil lie in the turbulent Persian Gulf region,” he said.

That puts the U.S. in a vulnerable position, he said, in light of a possible Sunni-Shia nuclear arms race in the Gulf region, future attacks on the region’s oil infrastructure and the national debt.

“The U.S. now borrows over $300 billion per year from creditors such as China and Saudi Arabia, writing national IOUs at a rate approaching a billion dollars a day to import oil,” he said. “This contributes heavily to a weakening dollar and upward pressure on interest rates. As Tom Friedman of The New York Times puts it, ‘The price of oil and the path of freedom run in opposite directions.’”

R. JAMES WOOLSEY PRESENTATIONS

- “Solutions to America’s Energy Crisis,” 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Shove Chapel, Colorado College, 1010 N. Nevada Ave., free. Sponsored by Energizing Colorado Springs, a student-initiated community organi zation on energy. An expo featuring a mobile biodiesel lab, vehicles powered by alternative energy and examples to reduce fossilfuel consumption will be at the presentation.

- “Energy, Security and the Long War of the 21st Century,” 11:30 a.m., Friday, The Broadmoor, 1 Lake Ave. The Colorado Springs World Affairs Council monthly luncheon, open to the public, $35. Call 579-8443 for a reservation.