Military doctrine favors the indirect and unexpected path to decisive results, hence the prevalence of the flanking maneuver. As we are reminded nearly daily, the seemingly intractable problem of U.S. dependence on foreign oil is a pre-eminent national security threat and should warrant such a tangential military solution. Just as the military provides for the common defense, it is incumbent on Pentagon leadership to explore how the military might yield such an asymmetric solution to flank and outwit our country’s broader reliance on petroleum.

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2008/05/3434573