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“So, what do plebes do for fun on a Friday night?” I asked DJ Guthrie, a third year West Point cadet, referring to the fresh-man cadets who are blocked from leaving campus at night and must be in their rooms by 12 PM. A couple of cadets were approaching us, dressed in matching grey Army shirts, tight shorts, and running shoes. Their faces were red and their shirts drenched in sweat. “Hey, you guys plebes?” DJ inquired as they passed. They stopped walking and straightened up im-mediately. “Yes, sir,” they responded in unison. “This gentleman would like to know what you do for fun on Friday nights.”One immediately responded, as if he had been mulling the answer over in his mind long before we asked the ques-tion. “We sit in rooms and wonder what other college freshman are doing for fun, Sir.” “Good answer,” DJ responded. Joining the Military Academy, I thought, is truly a selfless sacrifice.

This exchange took place during the 62 nd annual Student Conference on US Affairs (SCUSA) at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. The conference spanned four days of in depth policy discussions, policy addresses, panel discussions, and a keynote address by NATO‟s Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, Admiral James G. Stavridis. The overarching goal of SCUSA was the production of a two page policy memo regarding individual round table options that ranged from “Challenges in American Federalism: Immigration and Homeland Security” to “Insurgency, Terrorism, and Internationalized Conflict.”

My days at West Point were spent immersed in provoca-tive policy discussions with fellow delegates from dozens of differ-ent countries and scores of universities. I learned more than I could ever have imagined in such a short amount of time. The conference forced me to question my beliefs surrounding America‟s ability to maintain its global superpower status in the 21 st century. It de-pressed me, and yet gave me hope for the future. But more strik-ingly, it profoundly altered my views of the US military and tomor-row‟s elite brass.

greeted by two cadets in matching elegant grey Army issue dress uniforms. Their hats framed their chiseled faces. I shook their hands, which were covered in immaculate white gloves, and intro-duced myself. Their perfect posture made me immediately aware of my own slovenly ways. One took my backpack, slinging it across his

shoulder and picked up my heavy suitcase. When I spoke to him he addressed me as “Sir.” He held doors for me. I have not been treated with such respect in my entire life. I later learned that the cadets were both 18-year-old freshman from Texas. I had mistakenly thought, because of their maturity, politeness, and physical build that they were well into their early twenties.

I had the opportunity to interact and converse with various cadets through-out my stay at West Point. Every one I met was driven, extremely smart, and devoted to protecting their country. The cadet that led my spe-cific roundtable, Joe, descended from a long line of West Point affili-ated relatives. His great grandfather, an Italian stoneworker, mi-grated to the United States during the Great Wave in the early 20 th century and helped to build several of the buildings on West Points campus. His grandfather and father worked on campus and his brother graduated from West Point a few years ago. The cadet, in addition to organizing and running my entire experience at West Point, had to keep an eye on 600 other cadets, give volunteer tours of campus, conduct regular military drills and training as needed, and complete the work that comes with 22.5 academic credit hours.

I left the academy with great respect and trust in the ca-dets. They were extremely intelligent, intellectually curious, driven, hard working, and willing, as pointed out in the beginning exchange, to give up a standard college experience to serve their country. De-spite the doom and gloom approach that many of the speakers took during the various panel discussions and policy briefs, I left West Point feeling okay, almost positive, about our future. If these smart delegates are in charge of the civilian apparatus, and West Point ca-dets in charge of the military, we can change the course of this coun-try. Perhaps we can make the world a better place.

My thesis describes Russia’s energy agenda post-Cold War, and its implications for America. It provides an explanation of how the Kremlin is increasingly wielding its vast oil and natural gas reserves as a weapon of foreign policy, and how the country has been on a “shopping spree” to acquire European energy assets. Russia’s energy hegemony was largely President Putin’s doing, and the thesis out-lines the authoritarian measures taken by his administration to effectively capture the energy sector. It also describes the history of previ-ous U.S. involvement in counteracting Russia’s energy dominance, and assesses how effectively we have addressed the issue in the past. The thesis concludes with a chapter on policy prescriptions for the Obama administration on how to approach the pertinent issue of energy security vis-à-vis Russia.