The United States cannot depend upon a finite supply of hydrocarbons located in unstable foreign regions. At the same time, we need at least twenty years to really move the United States toward full-scale deployment of alternative sources of energy. Brazilian ethanol and Russian gas could help us to buy the time and security we need.

1. Popular culture recognizes these realities; the BBC's "The Man Who Broke Britain" and the FX film Oil Storm both take as their starting point the destruction of Ras Tanura.

Robert C. McFarlane served as President Reagan's national security advisor from 1983 to 1986. He currently heads an energy and environmental development firm and is a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition.