Hasan Alsancak – Role of Global Organizations in Critical Energy Infrastructure Security: NATO, UN, EU, OSCE (*)

Hasan Alsancak is a former Turkish chief of police and a well-respected subject matter expert (SME) in critical energy infrastructure security.

Recent twin-drone terror attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia once more dragged attention to the role of global security and military organizations in critical energy infrastructure protection. With its proven operational land, air, and maritime capabilities, NATO should be crucial in providing essential energy infrastructure protection.  Since NATO’s capable stance to provide energy security is obvious, it would be correct to state that no energy security strategy can be formed and implemented without considering the capacity of NATO, especially for energy security in the resource-rich Caucasus, Caspian Basin, and the Middle East. 

NATO Energy Security Center of Excellent (ENSEC COE) is critical in bringing each partner country and private companies to discuss new threats and perspectives for more comprehensive research and development possibilities, including new insights. Turkey hosts the NATO Center of Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism (COEDAT) in Ankara.  Thanks to her experience in counterterrorism, Turkey can play a broader role in protecting critical energy infrastructures against terror attacks. 

Considering its responsibility for securing multinational pipelines, Turkey has to be proactive, take concrete steps on energy security within a NATO framework, and become one of the participants in determining a larger global energy security agenda.  While having a proactive stance and taking decisive action in NATO, Turkey should also not exclude the EU dimension from its macro-level approach to energy security. 

As a European Union candidate, Turkey must pay more attention to cooperation with the EU on regional energy security concerns in general and energy terrorism, in particular, to protect its common interests with its European neighbors. 

The UN and OSCE can also be considered as other significant partners for protecting critical energy infrastructure on a global level.  In addition to the EU, NATO, UN, and OSCE, more concrete cooperation on energy infrastructure security can be considered with related countries in pipeline projects such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, and others.

(*) This text is an extended part of Hasan Alsancak’s article published in the Journal of Energy Security