Oil Industry 9-11

The oil industry has suffered attacks in the past and these random attacks have resulted in temporary disruptions of the world's oil supply. Any disruptions in the supply of oil can have an impact on the United States and the global economy due to globalization. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda have made repeated calls for attacks on the oil industry in order to devastate the United States and global economy. If these efforts ever succeed against a vital energy target or transportation choke point, then the United States and the global economy would experience a dramatic and devastating situation, with little chance of short term recovery. If terrorists wanted to create a strategic shock to the United States and global economy by orchestrating an oil industry 9-11, then what are the likely targets that would produce a strategic shock to our world economy and what could be done to prevent this event from happening? The oil industry has been attacked in the past, but those attacks did not take significant product stocks off the market for any length of time or they were not successful. If a terrorist organization attacked a strategic oil industry infrastructure target or vital transportation choke point, then the world economy would be damaged. In order to mitigate the risk of a terrorist oil industry 9-11, the United States must take the following actions: commit military resources to protect critical targets and waterways, institute conservation measures, and fully exploit our untapped resources to increase our strategic petroleum reserves.